Interesting. Doesn't that take all the fun out of smoking though - having a machine monitor the pit?
I think it depends on your view. I think if you have one of the smokers that is really easy to set and forget (Spicewine, BWS, BGE, Stumps, UDS, WSM, etc.) what the monitoring is giving you is some insight into what is happening and when. Plus it is a great way to log your cooks so that you can have a better chance of repeating your cook.
I think the cooking is the fun part regardless of if you have technology or not. Actually for me I like the serving part better as I really get a kick out of people enjoying my product.
I think saying that technology takes the fun out of it is like saying the hunter that uses the match grade rifle with a high power scope is not having the same fun as the hunter from 2 hundred years ago did using the first black powder rifle.
Change and advancement is not always a bad thing. Change for the sake of change I will give you, but that is not necessarily the issue with all technology. Afterall, look at all the other technological advances we all swear by:
- The blue therma pen followed by all the other colors
- You can argue the WSM is in itself a technological advancement
- for that matter all modern smokers/cookers are just improvements over the traditional pit in the ground.
I'll get of my soap box now.