Custom Assassin 28 Smoker Delivered - It's Bad A$$!

Two hours into my delivery window I hear the rumble of a diesel! The custom Assassin 28 I ordered a couple of weeks ago has arrived. This was a unit that unfortunately the person who ordered it could not complete the purchase due to a family emergency. I had just lost my very close uncle two days prior and bought this to cheer me up. I will be naming the Assassin 28 "Clyde" in my Uncle's memory.

So what did I get?

• Assassin 28
• Six Shelves
• Firebox Rain Drip Edge
• Rounded Diamond Plate
• DigiQ DX2 (Not Using)
• Fitted Cover
• Controlled by Stoker Wifi (From Rock's BBQ)

I want to thank Jeff and Robin for outstanding service. They run a great company and the quality, craftsmanship, customer service and heck, even the crating is outstanding. I can't find a single fault from start to finish, and I'm a picky SOB. I also want to thank "dobdabomb" because it's his thread and his custom configuration that sold me!

So let's check this bad boy out. I know, another Assassin thread.

Delivery:







Yes, I have a forklift in a very residential area and I love it. My neighbors, probably not so much.

Removing from Pallet (Who says an "IT" geek can't run a forklift):






Cleaned Interior and Racks + Two cans of Canola oil + Stoker Wifi:





Loaded with Royal Oak Lump (plus apple, oak, cherry and hickory chunks - why not) - Fire In The Hole!!!:






Geeky Stuff - Stoker-Web (Also has an Android app which connects to my Stoker-Web server):



The dip was caused by me screwing with Stoker-Web. It came right up to 300 degrees in about 25 minutes and set in nice and solid.... until I opened the firebox door. Gotta learn the hard way, that's my style. I'm impressed how quickly it came up to temp, and the awesome thing is... the outside is cool to the touch at 300 degrees.

Who knows, maybe I'll cook something tonight/overnight Worst case, it will be tomorrow afternoon/evening. I have an 8lb butt in the fridge. However I'm leaving first thing in the morning to go pick up a Lang 36. So there will be another thread a coming, when I get the third of the three stooges home and on the patio.

Today was a good day.

Thanks guys.

Fire!:



Seasoned:



Bacon.. cause I'm freakin starving:



I am trying out SM Sweet Seduction for the first time. Wow this rub smells great.. so a little sprinkle on the bacon and into the cooker. I dialed back the temperature to around 250 degrees. Going to make BLT's but I don't have any tomatoes. I don't really like them anyhow, so BLCM's (cheese and mayo) it is.

I tossed in a couple of chunks of Apple wood for good measure.

Oh and like a dumb ass, I was so excited that I forgot to install a drip/steam pan. So I came out to the Exxon Valdez on my concrete. haha.

I sent Jeff and Robin a nice thank you email. While I don't have any experience cooking on this thing yet, I do have the experience of buying. Many times you buy something and feel let down or that it's misrepresented. Not the case with them and I think that goes for Rebel and Superior as well. I was going to buy a Superior SS-1 but when I got in touch with Jeff, he had this thing just sitting there waiting for a new owner, so I went that route. The customer service from Superior was outstanding as well. It seems the folks who are associated together have their heads screwed on straight and a desire to give their customers what they are paying for, both in product and service.

I have no concerns that this thing won't produce amazing BBQ. If it doesn't, it's my fault, not the cookers. If this thing works as good as I think it will, I don't think my Yoder YS1500 is gonna be around very long.

markrvp said:

I'm looking forward to seeing which of your three smokers (YS640, Assasin, Lang) you prefer the smoke flavor. I have three smokers on my wish list and they are the Yoder YS640, Assasin 28, and Jambo Backyard. Three very different smokers for sure.

Click to expand...

I used to have a YS640 and of all the pellet cookers I've owned, it produced the best BBQ IMO. However it was an earlier model, single fan that didn't have as good of temperature control as the later units. I did not get the same results with the YS1500 as I did with the YS640 out of the gate. With the YS1500, I had to switch to 100% Hickory pellets. With them, the smoke flavor is MUCH better on the YS1500.

The best BBQ I've ever made has come off of my little 18.5 WSM. I have to tell you that the sweet smell of cherry wood smoking really makes me enjoy BBQ and that's not something you get with a pellet cooker. However a pellet cooker gives you flexibility, such as grilling or changing temperatures fairly easily. Turn it on, you have fire. Turn it off, it goes away quickly. Easy to refuel as well. If I sell my YS1500 some day, I will have a pellet cooker of some sort. They are simply very convenient and consistent.

I was looking at the Jambo Backyard as well. They build an outstanding product and I would have zero hesitation going with one. For me, a stick burner is never going to be my everyday cooker. I have too much going on half the time to tend a fire. However I know I'm missing out on a big part of what makes BBQ special and for that reason I have bought a stick burner as well, though on the small side. Fine by me.

The Assassin will probably become my goto smoker. It's fuel efficient, seemingly easy to run and I can add as much smoke into the meat as I want by simply adding more chunks into the ash pan. I did make a mistake in adding the wood in there at the start, because I have a hell of a nice bed of coals in there now. Any wood I put in there gets vaporized quickly. Next time I'll let it settle into it's temperature and then quickly toss in my smoking wood at the edges of the ash pan.

I will post up frequently between my cooks on the YS1500, Assassin 28 and Lang 36. I'll probably spend more time with the Lang during the next couple of months because it's going to be completely new to me.