Red Box Smoker Review

Did my seasoning and a couple quick cooks Saturday. Beautiful little cooker. Fit and finish are really nice. Temps are very even top to bottom. Definitely would buy again. Holds rock solid temps. Cooked at 325 most of the time. Loaded with about 50 pieces of charcoal and several small chunks of cherry. That load lasted 6.5 hours. Probably could have gone a lot longer with a lower temp. I tried to run a maze but the temps would not climb at all. took the maze out and it runs great without the maze. I put about 2 cups of water to see what it would do...it dropped the temp about 25 degrees and it I let it dry up. Water is not necessary to hold temps down and that is the way I like to cook anyway so it will work for me and will use less fuel too. Biscuit test was pretty dead even and fatty, breasts and bb ribs were really good. Other than a better thermometer I don't what else I could ask for. Therm should be really easy to replace as it just has a thumb screw holding it in place but it does seem to be accurate but hard to read with it only being 2".

Here are a few pics.

Edit: no leaks around the doors but a little smoke gets by the drop-in water pan. only spot that got a little hot was the fb door. the rest of it was warm to the touch. it was 45 degrees out and very windy but it did not cause any issues. came up to temp in about 45 minutes with 1 lighter cube, water pan out and the cook chamber door open to allow plenty of oxygen to get to the charcoal. will probably get up to temp quicker with 2 cubes but i wasn't in any hurry.

Edit #2: Mark from Sweet Swine O Mine was great to work with. Answered every phone call and text. Really nice guy. Also, you can't beat the $397 price and my shipping was $44.

More Pics

SmittyJonz said:

It's just so RED. ! . :sad:

Why no pics of the baby backs cut in half to fit?

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Red is the best color!!! The BBs fit at an angle but they were kinda small.

Fwismoker said:

I'm sure glad the jimmy is largely stainless Paul because her tears won't cause any rust. :razz:

Glad it performed Paul....If you disown the jimmy though I'm gonna have to disown you. lol

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the jimmy is not going anywhere. the mini may have to go since I have used it zero times since building the jimmy. no need for desperate measures.:laugh:

rookiedad said:

is there any type of a charcoal grate in the ash pan to keep the coals up off the bottom?

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No. I was thinking about building an ash pan and drilling holes in the charcoal pan but I didn't have any issues with fire getting smothered. I'll hold off for now.

cheez59 said:

Nice review. The little guy will obviously cook some pretty ribs.

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Thanks. Ran them naked for 2 hours. Was really pleased with them except for the first bone that was a little crispy.

Fwismoker said:

Is the "Reb" short for rebel Paul? LOL...I still think you have time to edit the spelling.

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I just fixed it. Thanks!

jgbmgb said:

Nice! Mine just showed up a couple of hours ago!! Will try it out over the weekend.

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Thanks. You are a patient person. I immediately started thawing meats when mine arrived a few days early.

Decoy205 said:

That's a great review! Thanks for posting. It looks like a nice little cooker. That price man I may have to get one.

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landarc said:

I can see that a couple racks of ribs, and a few fatties could be cooked in there, nice new cooker. Details looks pretty good too

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I think it's a great value and built solidly. Wouldn't ever guess it was built in China.