Bayou Classic Kamado?

my wife saw one of these at lowe's too and I saw the made in china stickers. having bought a bubba keg a few days prior(which is also made in china but that doesnt bother me), she told me that the bayou was much prettier. I have to agree with her and almost wanted to return the keg back to home depot and get the bayou at lowes. however, ive had 3 cooks under the belt of the keg and its holding up fine so i guess ill keep it for now and just get a ceramic cooker when the time is right. ie when I can afford a BGE or a primo.

cypress

I saw the Cypress in Clovis, Ca Lowes for $699. First let me say I have ordered an Egg and will be picking it up next month at the Eggfest. So, the only experience I have is with my brothers. His works great and no problems so far.

The Cypress had an awesome cart, very sturdy looking with nice casters. The cart looks a little sturdier than the egg, which is extra. Also, the Cypress comes with side tables. The egg side tables are extra. Thats about where I think the advanatages end. The ceramics look much more pourous as the other poster said. So I'm not sure how hot you can get them. Also, there were several "made in china" stickers. Not to disturbing until you see the sticker that says the outside glazing contains lead. Not good.

Once again these are just my assessments from viewing it at the store and I have not used it. Could be great you never know.

Do the firebowls on the eggs break to? If i was spending $700 already on a ceramic, i might as well spend a few hundred more and get the egg.

Greetings. First post, wasn't expecting it to be in this thread. I've had one of these for about a month and so far only a few minor issues -

o Seal on lower vent was poor, resulting in the cooker taking forever to cool down and using a lot of lump in the process. Fixed by running a bead of high temp silicone caulk in the opening between the vent and the ceramic.

o A few days ago, I noticed a number of cracks in the lower fire ring, making it difficult holding the charcoal grate in place. I emailed and sent pictures to customer service, a new one should be on its way next week. Customer service has been very good thus far. In the meantime, since I didn't want the cooker to sit idle for Memorial Day weekend, I patched it with JB Weld and for added measure, threaded some wire through the holes in the ring to help hold it together. Looks like hell, but it's doing the trick.

Re: do BGE fire rings crack? According to posts I've read in the BGE forum and on the NakedWhiz site, the answer is yes. We'll see how the quality of this Bayou Classic holds up. I liked that it came with side shelves and the cart is high quality and well built.

So far, I've done ribs, beer can chicken, steaks, burgers, franks, pizza and yesterday made use of the FireWire skewers for some awesome kabobs. I bought a Big Green Egg plate setter and a 14" Lodge cast iron pizza pan which fits the unit perfectly.

I'm having a lot of fun making up my own rubs, marinades and of course, getting hints and tips from this forum which was my main reason for joining. The joy of cooking on this vs. my gas grill has made grilling fun again.

Pics of the six FireWire skewers circled around the grill from yesterday's cook attached.

- Lunchman

saw 2 @ Lowe's in Glasgow yesterday for $699. they're pretty & the lid is heavy as hell.

Seriously late to this party, but I was Googling this brand for a buddy and stumbled upon this thread. I called the factory to get the straight answer prior to reading this thread, yes all China produced.

Spurhunter said:

yes all China produced.

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I have heard that that may change. Possibly Mexico.

Love our American made Primo Grills!

Firebox cracking is possible with any ceramic smoker, but I've had my hands on several of the Chinese-made brands (including the Bayou Classic) while they had a fire burning and the build quality just wasn't there. For my money there are better ways to spend your hard-earned dollars.

I look it up found the egg was build in Mexico. According to the net primo is the only American made cermic cooker

Wound up taking mine back to Lowes



Took mine back to Lowes. Broken firebowls are expected, but there is broken and there is disintegrating.

The more I read about these the more I am glad I took mine back

AJP said:

The more I read about these the more I am glad I took mine back

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The more I read about these things, the more glad I am I got a Bubba Keg. I've had my first Keg for almost a year and so far so good. I've never cooked on a ceramic before, but I hear they are pretty much the same.

I purchased a Bayou Classic Cypress Ceramic Grill and used it some 25 times at low temps before the ceramic cracked completely through, during a use at well below its rated temperature. I contacted Bayou Classic about a replacement which they immediately denied. Their version of product support seems to be to provide a very limited warranty and to deny replacement claims based on whatever condition they can discover in order to do the minimum to support their obviously substandard product. They market their $800 ceramic grill as a less expensive version of the Big Green Egg, but neglect to address that their $800 product is of poor quality, with a very limited warranty, and marginal support from the manufacturer, while the BGE, at nearly twice the cost has a lifetime warranty with excellent product support. If you want something cheap, buy a cheap tin smoker and replace it every year. If you want something of quality buy a Big Green Egg or a Primo ceramic grill. The Bayou Classic ceramic grill seems to be the worst of both, it's both expensive and poor quality.