What was your first grill or smoker?

Mine was the 2004 version of my Aussie Grill pictured below, it was Meco Grill though, and it was Red with a wood side-table...





 
Weber Kettle was my first grill, First smoker was a Brinkman, and I still have 2 of them that have been given to me since my very first one. My friends really didn't know how to use them, and really didn't want to hear me tell them what they were doing wrong with their coals.... So they dropped them off at my house after years of dust collection, and long after they had given up. I still use the old bullets, they work fine. The temp gauge sucks but with all the probes and temp stats out there you can manage anything.
 
My first grill was a Sunbeam charcoal grill given to me as a Father's Day gift back in 1998. The grill was similar to a Meco or Aussie grill with a square design and adjustable charcoal grate. It was a great grill for me at the time that lasted seven years before I gifted the grill to a couple of friends. Sometimes I miss it for nostalgic reasons. :cry:
 
My first grill was river rocks (yeh I know ) old piece of wire mesh and a piece of old kero tin as a lid.
Snags and Rissoles and the odd stolen chicken came up a treat
 
The first grill I ever purchased was a Weber Smokey Joe back in the mid eighties before I got married. Used to fire it up almost every weekend for brats, burgers, steaks, etc. Obviously not a lot of room, but I made it work for me and my buddies for many a year.
 
My first was a weber kettle then a WSM then a klose stick burner and now I have a Pitmaker safe. I still have a kettle and a gasser for when Im being lazy
 
First grill was a Weber silver 22. I had it for 25 years and used it probably every-other weekend. It didnt take much skill. I now have 2 Weber 22's; use them both.

My first smoker was a Brinkman Smoke-N-Grill bullet type smoker. I never learned to use it well, always ruined whatever I had on it, I ended up throwing it away after a few years of rusting in the corner...
 
I really don't remember. My dad let me take over grilling when I was around 10 or so when he let me grill a steak once. Must've been pretty good, because I started doing them routinely after that. Or, maybe grilling was interfering with his drinking time...

Some square boxy thing. My first purchase was a cast iron hibachi I had for years...
 
One of my first purchases after getting discharged from the army back in 1968 was a Portable Kitchen Cast Aluminium "Ozark Oven" similar to the one my dad used. I used it for about 20 years before I upgraded to the Brinkmann SnP Pro which I still have. My son now has the PK.
 
My Dad had a nice Ducane gas grill outside and a built in gas grill in the kitchen, he designed the house. We were a gas grillin' family. When I moved out with my girlfriend(now wife), I went to the BBQ's Galore store and bought the Ducane gas demonstrator/floor model, $300 30 years ago, a lot of money for me back then. I still have it, and my Dad's, waiting for restoration.
 
First gas grill: PGS K40
First charcoal grill: Weber Smokey Joe
First smoker: Mini WSM
 
First grill - 22.5 Weber I got in '93 that I still have and cook on. First smoker was an ECB with the electric element. Piece o'crap but I didn't care - my wife and friends and I had what we thought were a lot of great meals off that thing. As soon as I moved from an apartment to a house with a yard I got a NBBD. By that point I was very happy to let the ECB go.
 
First grill was a gasser. First smoker was a gas grill modified for indirect cooking....I did some very good cooks on that setup also a few mistakes. I now have the gasser, a Bradley digital Jim Beam model, a New Braunfels cheapo, a 22.5 OTG Kettle, a Akorn, a cinder block pit and a metal fire pit with a cooking rack.

If I were to pick only one to have.....the Kettle. No second thought there as it does it all.
 
First smoker was a Masterbuilt gasser. Put out some decent pork butts and ribs on it but never could get the smoke flavor I wanted. It has been retired and in storage for 6 years and just last week gave it to my oldest son so he can start his bbq quest.
 
First grill was an 18.5 Weber kettle my dad gave me in the mid 70's when he upgraded to the larger kettle. I still have it and just used it at the cabin last weekend.

1st smoker was an ECB with an electric element. It didn't like Minnesota weather and I ruined some meat and fish with it. Rusted out, tossed it, bought a WSM and never looked back.
 
J'ville Grill said:
My first grill was very similar to this one. I liked that you could raise and lower the charcoal grate three diferent levels from the cooking grate.
41b95a4c-37d7-41d5-a3c8-2fc8748d5b5a.png.web.v1.jpg
Click to expand...
this except mine was green, "the green weenie" my wife bought me a gasser, didn't have storage for two, gave the green weenie to a friend before I figured out I hated gas. Got it back from its third owner a couple years later and used it till its legs fell off.
 
Grew up using an 18" weber Kettle, it finally rusted out after being nearly 35 years old, bought a Weber Performer about 6 years ago, love it. Just started getting into smoking and experimenting with different things. Currently building a UDS, and hope to build a brick oven in the future.
 
I started with something like this a few years ago:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Backyard-Grill-Deluxe-Square-Charcoal-Grill/17768234?findingMethod=rr

I didn't quite know what I was doing and used matchlight charcoal. A friend gave me an old portable type grill that I used to light charcoal on then add to my bigger grill when the lighter fluid burnt off. Throw some mesquite chips on there and pack it on one half with a pork picnic on the other side and it wasn't too bad for a poor college student.

I replaced it after over 2 years when the charcoal pan (not a grate, just a metal sheet) burnt through in a few spots.
I've upgraded slightly to a Smokey Joe and one of these:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kingsford-381-sq.-in.-Charcoal-Wagon-Grill/15907741
 
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