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GAS or WOOD

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im new to smoking. What should i buy? gas or wood? which requires less attention?
 
Gas can be, and is used with success , but wood fire is a lot more interesting and fun. Remember gas, and even electric will have to use some kind of wood product to achieve a smoked flavor so why not just go with wood to start with? Otherwise why not just cook in a crock pot or kitchen oven?
Dave
 
Gas is a Petroleum based product unless it comes out of an AXX, do you want either near your food???
 
Wood only for bbq. If you don't want to pay attention to it buy a pellet grill or an insulated vertical with guru. Stick burning is more fun though.
 
Get a Kamado Style Grill/Smoker and run Charcoal n Wood without having to babysit it. And Great in Cold Weather because they are heavily insulated.
Kamado Joe, Big Green Egg, Primo, Etc....,Etc......
 
If you're talking about a stick burner being feed splits of wood versus a gas cooker, the gas cooker is easier to run. It's as easy as turning on a gas stove.

As has been mentioned though, if you buy a cooker that uses lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes it'll be a really simple process as long as you're buying a quality cooker, and you'll get the best of both worlds.
 
I have had success with gas, wood, briquettes, and lump. They all have their advantages, but I must confess that wood burned down to coals is unparalleled. I just don't have time for it often. Once I decide which one I want to use forevermore, I will tell everybody who disagrees that they are woefully wrong...
 
Gas is for stoves. Wood is for BBQ. You'll never get the true BBQ flavor you seek from gas or a plug IMHO
 
Pellet Poopers are a good option to get wood flavor and no attention needed.
 
There are many different types of smoking devices available. And if you peruse the pages of this forum, I think you'll see people having success with all of them. If your sole requirement is to have a "set it and forget it system", a gas device may be best for you. But there have been some good suggestions above for low maintenance wood/charcoal based smokers. I personally have a UDS (ugly drum smoker) and it was extremely cheap to build and is very easy to run with great tasting results.

However I think you'll find many people on this forum enjoy the process as much (maybe even more!) than they do the end result. Many people relish learning how to master a keeping a small hot fire in a reverse flow offset wood burner by throwing another stick on every 30-45 mins.

Me personally, I'm with most of the traditionalists above. I don't foresee a gas burner any time in my future. But I can see why some might choose to go that direction.
 
Wood! The more I used wood fueled cookers, the less I had any desire for a gas fueled grill. I have only used a gas grill twice in the last four years or so, and I don't miss them one but.
 
I haven't used a gas grill in ~5 years after getting my first Weber Kettle. The one I had at that time sat for ~2 years unused after acquiring the Kettle and sold it cheap at a garage sale. Get a charcoal/wood cooker and don't look back.
 
I keep a gas grill around but have only used it for fresh oysters in the shell over the past few years
 
Gas is good for grilling... not smoking. If you wanted to get a gas fired cooker that can smoke, I would go with an UltraQue from Ole Hickory if you have 4k + laying around.

Like the others said, I can yet get the same flavor from any other cooker that comes from wood cooked down to coals in my offset cooker.

Jeff
 
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