Backwoods Smokers

no, it is not big enough for a comp alone, its worth the extra money to move up to the fatboy, it will handle the comp meats with ease.

IowaWildHogsBbq said:

Do I need the heat inverter plate? Do you always use the water pan or do you dry smoke? I will look into getting a fatboy then.

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Sent you a pm bud

The biggest thing to consider is how you will transport the smoker to comps. The party is light enough to be pushed in and out of a pickup if you lay it on its back. The fatboy and competitor are much heavier and work better when you have a ramp to roll them up. I have pushed my competitor on its back into my pickup but it's a PITA and a two man job.

Capacity wise we used my old party a few times and it can be done but its tight. We would cook our butts overnight and toss the flats in around 3-4am. The ribs only take 4-5 hours and we finished our chicken on the top rack two hours before turn-in with the heat kicked up to 300+ and a foil pan on the shelf below to keep the drippings from hitting the ribs. We did bring a kettle as sometimes we would get too close to turn-in and need it to crisp up the skin.

Pigmaker23 made a good point though about moving up the the fatboy which has exactly half the capacity of the competitor and will give you more than ample room for your needs. There is also another unadvertised smoker that Backwoods makes called a Gator which is basically a deeper Party but with expanded metal racks instead of the oven racks that come in a Party. One benefit of it is that each of the five shelves are deep enough to hold a full size pan...something that the fatboy and competitor will not do.

edit: I always used water and would need to add more in the morning hours. Also get the heat diveter it makes a huge difference and keeps the water from boiling over.

pigmaker23 said:

no, it is not big enough for a comp alone, its worth the extra money to move up to the fatboy, it will handle the comp meats with ease.

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Actually,

I spoke with the Backwoods people a few months ago, and they told me that someone won one of the Texas comps using only his Backwood's Chubby... a smaller smoker than the party.

They were quite proud of it.

IowaWildHogsBbq said:

Do I need the heat inverter plate? Do you always use the water pan or do you dry smoke? I will look into getting a fatboy then.

Click to expand...

Yes, have them build it in. AND... get the charcoal tray upgrade. I had to have mine welded in later.

btcg said:

Actually,

I spoke with the Backwoods people a few months ago, and they told me that someone won one of the Texas comps using only his Backwood's Chubby... a smaller smoker than the party.

They were quite proud of it.

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Only ONE chubby? If so that is pretty wild lol

Yes and Yes to the water, I cook on two of them and have been very happy with them. Kevin from Smokin it will cut you a great deal

IowaWildHogsBbq said:

Do I need the heat inverter plate? Do you always use the water pan or do you dry smoke? I will look into getting a fatboy then.

Click to expand...

One chubby would be pretty tough to compete with at a comp. I know Craig at Texas Pepper Jelly cooks on 2 chubbys and has had great success. I don't know about one though.

A friend of mine built a stand for his Fatboy to sit on at home that uses 4" casters. But the stand frame goes up the backside of the smoker and has 8 inch casters. When he goes to competitions he tilts the smoker stand onto the back frame and rolls it up some auto ramps he keeps in the bed of his pickup for competitions. He says he can roll it into the bed of the pickup himself with some effort but he always has one of his team members along and it is easy that way.