A
azmark
Guest
I'm still new and as I am getting use to my WSM and loving it! Looking at all of the different makers they all tend to be similar of either off-set or vertical smokers. What is the difference between them?
There are so many differences, many of which affects how the smoker cooks, thus affecting how the food will taste. The question is so broad. Even smokers that would seem to be quite similar, for instance, a WSM and a UDS have distinct characteristics and this affects the food.
I knew it was going to be one of those answers :laugh:
Get one of each.
I think one thing has been overlooked here that is rather obvious -- quantity.
If you need to cook a lot of meat at one time, you need a big smoker, and a giant WSM would probably not function as well as the normal sizes, and would be a PITA to use.
If you are like me, and only do smaller cooks, a WSM is ideal, where a large stick-burner would be underused.
For big cooks, you need something that holds a lot of meat, while still making even heat and distributing the smoke evenly, as well. It has to be easy to get to all the meat on the smoker, too.
For small cooks, you need something that gets good results, without using a ton of fuel.
That's why I use a WSM, and even made a mini-WSM for my Smokey Joe Gold. A 48-inch stick-burner would be a waste of work and fuel to smoke one meat loaf for dinner. I can do a meatloaf smoke on the WSM with leas than one chimney of charcoal.
On the other hand, I would need multiple WSMs to do catering or competitions with, so it would be worth it to look into other types of smokers that may make more sense.
That's my 2-cents.
CD