Should I Buy Another Craigslist Smoker? Good One Open Range

As usual, perusing the Farkbook, LetItGo, Craigslist listings for some awesome steal.

Find a guy with a Good One Open Range smoker. Now you don’t see or hear about them much on this forum but there are a few posts here and there. Decent fan following on the interwebs and good reviews from some blogs and AmazingRibs.

It’s an over/under charcoal design with a long narrow firebox running the length of the smoke box. Controlled by a damper, and a few spinner vents. Supposed to hold 10lbs of charcoal and give you about 8 hours at a rock steady temp. You can also direct grill over the firebox.

So he doesn’t have many pictures and it shows a little surface rust. He has it priced about 30% of a new one. So I connect today and go see it.

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First, it’s smaller than I thought. There are two racks in the smoke chamber. It would hold about 2-3 racks of ribs on each shelf, perhaps two briskets or 3-4 butts. I’m thinking about it for unattended cooks or for chicken and reverse searing.

He’s kept it outside uncovered. The rust on the firebox is fairly light surface rust. The grates and drip pan in the smoke chamber are rusted lightly. The firebox is another story. Both grates pretty rusted, and the ash pan is a mess. He had it out of the smoker leaning against a shed. It was soaking wet. Bottom of the ash pan was very rusted. He told me it had been sitting with ash and water in it. Damn. The spinners were tight, but not stuck so I think could be saved. He also told me one of the tires was low.

Just not sure. It sounds kinda fun. I could use the grill for kebabs or skewers like Sako does sometimes. But I don’t really need it. Might dump the propane gasser I haven’t used in a year if I pick it up...but it could be a rusted mess.

What say ye!

Well that’s part of my issue. At this price is a great deal if the smoker is in great shape. It’s not. So it’s probably priced fair for this condition. But I’m not sure I’m interested in it at a fair price. If he wants to dump it for lower I could see playing with it as a rehab.

You’re not helping. I want someone to tell me 30% of new is already a great deal and it’s a great smoker and.

Oh nevermind. Totally what I kinda figured. Throw him a lowball and tell him to let me know if he wants it out of the yard.

WeberWho said:

I bought one and restored it a few years back. Some pictures of the restoration in the link:

http://bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=247119

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One cook and sold it? Sheesh. Looked great after you rehabbed it. If I get it, mine won’t be that extensive.

Kaptain Kadian said:

The idea of reaching over the hot fire box to tend to the meat does not seem appealing to me. I could see myself burning the crap out of my arms and other things with that smoker. I would get an old country over under instead

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Depending on the model the lid is reversible if you want for that reason, although I’ve seen a variety of comments that it really isn’t an issue leaning over it.

KORND4WG X said:

Get it :icon_smile_tongue:

I got mine on CL a few years ago and after being out of the rotation for awhile I’ve used it quite a bit recently - it is very easy to get up to and maintain 250 and it’s also a reverse searing machine :clap2:

Reaching over the firebox has never been a problem for me; they are known as charcoal hogs but I can get 5 or so hours on about 1/3 to 1/2 full; the downside is the capacity is a little lacking.

Get it :icon_smile_tongue:

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I was wondering if you’d comment. Saw a few of your prior posts. Capacity does seem small, but I have my Lang for larger cooks. I think I’d do wings in this instead of my Weber and we do a lot of reverse sear tri tips too.

sudsandswine said:

I'd hard pass that based on the description, not knowing the price.

"Holistically" speaking....does it fill a gap in your current cooker lineup? You can grill skewers on nearly anything.

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He’s asking $350. They are about $1200 new.

I have the pit barrel for longer unmonitored cooks but horizontal capacity is limited. Does 8 racks of ribs but only 2 butts. Also I use the Weber for wings and about 40 sections is my limit. This would expand that capacity too.

Do I ‘need’ it! No. Will $250-300 impact my budget in anyway? Nope. It’s interesting because it’s different and you don’t see them around a lot. Just a whim because it popped up and it’s 3 miles from my house.