First Pit Purchase - HELP

I've spent the last 48 hours while my account has been in moderation going through a ton of topics here and there has been some serious pit envy, I'm looking forward to being a part of this community.

I've had a Traeger for the last three years, it was the first "smoker" I had ever purchased, I just got the smallest one from Costco so I could learn on it and figure out if it was something I really wanted to get into. Long story short, I went to a buddies not too long ago who had a traditional offset smoker that had been given to him and hadn't been touched in years. He invited me over to re-break it in since I had a basic understanding of how offsets worked, and I smoked four racks of spare ribs that day. They were the best ribs I'd ever smoked in my life and it wasn't even close, I couldn't believe the WORLD of a difference from my Traeger to a legit offset, so now here I am trying to make a fist time buyers decision.

Here's where you guys come in - every time I think I've narrowed down my options something else pops up, so I'm hoping to get some insight. I really love the idea of a traditional flowing offset, and Lone Star Grillz seems to make a great product. I believe in buy once cry once, so while my budget isn't unlimited, I'm willing to drop some some cash on this for it to last a couple decades (at least thats my sales pitch to my wife). In browsing this forum, I saw quite a few folks mention LSG's vertical offset, and the cooking capacity provided by that blew my mind. Seemed like a no brainer, but I do have to ask, is a vertical offset going to provide more of a "direct heat" as opposed to a smoky taste? I'm in this for the taste first and foremost, while I don't think I'd ever fill up a vertical offset, it'd be nice to try. But if it's not going to have the same smokiness as a horizontal, I don't think that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Also stumbled upon Shirley Fabrication today, I'm going to send them an email but everything I've read involves a very long wait time, and I'm simply not that patient, although they look very impressive as well.

All input is appreciated!

SmokyDick said:

All I can is don't let a lot of the members here tempt you into overspending. Thats one thing they are good at doing.


Get a cheapy like an old country to even see if you really want to mess with the hassle of an offset.

Click to expand...

Haha yeah that seems like sage advice. The condensed version of the backstory on my traeger is because it's their smallest model and it's sold at Costco, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles some of their other models do. It's been very good to learn on but I haven't been able to "set it and forget it" since I unboxed it. I believe my model doesn't have an algorithm driven auger, it's just a timer, so I've had temperature swings on it on every long cook I've done that you wouldn't believe. From what I've read on this forum and other articles/watched on YouTube, it seems like if you get a good offset you'll be fiddling with it every 45 minutes or so. That would be a significant time savings for me, which is why I'm kind of leaning towards forking up the cash for a really good one.

drunkenmeatfist said:

You are quick to badmouth the members here. Why do you stay if you have such a problem with the other posters?

As for the OP, I would suggest giving LSG a call to see if they can answer your questions. Also, last I heard was that Shirley was making a no frills patio model that cut the wait time down by quite a bit.

Click to expand...

That's awesome news regarding the Shirley, I was really impressed by some of those rigs. I'll definitely give LSG a call tomorrow.

SmoothBoarBBQ said:

Just to make things more difficult on you take a look at Ironside Smokers. They make insulated cabinet style smokers which can be run just like a stick burner, or you can load them up with charcoal and run them like a normal cabinet smoker. Super high build quality and all the reviews I've seen of them are top notch.

http://www.ironsidesmokers.com/

Good luck with whatever you purchase.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Sid Post said:

The 36"x24" Shirley's are ~$1900 plus shipping. They are a really solid choice and have pretty quick deliveries if you don't buy one in stock from a vendor.

Personally, I like the traditional central Texas look of a classic pipe smoker like my Evie Mae. If you can't tell, I'm a reverse flow guy on the "patio" models. If I do a propane tank build, it will most likely be a traditional flow since I have so much more real-estate to work with.

Click to expand...

That is the other dilemma I'm faced with, reverse flow vs traditional. I like the idea of traditional with tuning plates (LSG), feel like it opens up a lot of options in the future. Reverse flow is probably going to make my life easier since I'm just getting started though with temperature control - I'm assuming on a quality pit like a Shirley there's no real reason to be worried about stale smoke as long as you're doing your part, right?

Thanks all, lots of good options out there. 5K is a bit out of my price range, and I think a trailer might be too big for where I can store it at the moment, still trying to figure that out because I'd love to have it on a trailer.
Fat Stack is also a bit out of my price range for a base model, their 120 starts at 4k and I can definitely get a few add ons from LSG or Shirley for that much.
I had looked into KAT and JH Fabrication - both were reverse flow and I'm leaning more towards traditional with tuning plates. JH said he doesn't usually do that, I emailed Shirley to see if they'd be willing to do traditional.
Really appreciate everyone's insight.