Ok guys help me make up my mind!!!

SPICEWINE Cooked on mine for several years no problems. Great company!

CivilWarBBQ said:

I think that comment is not accurate.

Unlike a computer, a simple piece of equipment like a smoker does not become obsolete merely because time passes. If a cooker is well built and functions properly, it has intrinsic value that doesn't depend on what happens with the company that made it.

For example, I see you are a fan of Backwoods Smokers. By this line of thinking, a shiny new Competitor purchased today would be "worthless" if Mike retired next year and chose to close the doors. That just doesn't make sense to me - a good cooker today is still a good cooker tomorrow as long as you take care of it.

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Good has nothing to do with resale. Pontiac cars are good cars. How is their resale holding up?? If Mike closed backwoods down, you can bet your ass they would take a nasty hit on resale. Steelcraft Smokers is a prime example. By far the best craftsmanship I have ever seen in a smoker. They went tank. They are worth about $.30 on the $ now. Still great cookers....but that is a nasty hit. This why I say stick to a mainstream brand unless the buyer knows exactly what they want and they do not care about resale.

smokinit said:

Andy fad cooker. I think not you have to remember I was a Backwoods guy /dealer long before you or most people on this board. I know them inside and out!! I don't normally get in pissing matches but the amount of wins don't mean squat if your not getting your monies worth and there are significant quality issues. Believe you me we are priced right and making money. Maybe Backwoods is just over charging for what they are. I guess people are getting nervous if they have to talk this way and spy on what I am doing and report back to Mike. WA Wa get over it we make a killer unit and we are here to stay.

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Pretty sure that I made no reference to any particular cooker company as a fad company but gave very general advice on staying main stream. You guys need to sell and promote the
humphrey's brand on its own merits and stop publicly slamming Backwoods and a couple others as 'you have to rebuild them'. You know as well as I do that a Backwoods is a well made unit and the people (you included) helped make the brand what it is and what it has accomplished. You don't see stump out there slamming superior or assassin do you? If the backwoods brand was not of quality, then maybe you should not have sold as many of them over time as you did? For the record, the humps are good cookers. Never have denied it. I wish the hump brand nothing but luck and good fortune.....but the public slamming and backwoods is not called for nor justified.

smokinit said:

I will not comment on this
Any further.

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Anybody want to bet on this? op2:

abangs said:

Good has nothing to do with resale. Pontiac cars are good cars. How is their resale holding up?? If Mike closed backwoods down, you can bet your ass they would take a nasty hit on resale. Steelcraft Smokers is a prime example. By far the best craftsmanship I have ever seen in a smoker. They went tank. They are worth about $.30 on the $ now. Still great cookers....but that is a nasty hit. This why I say stick to a mainstream brand unless the buyer knows exactly what they want and they do not care about resale.

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What does a manufacturer closing have to do with resale. It ain't like someone is taking a 5 year old used pit and shipping it back to the manufacturer for repairs, or that many of these need much in the way of parts, outside pellet cookers.

TailGateJoecom said:

What does a manufacturer closing have to do with resale. It ain't like someone is taking a 5 year old used pit and shipping it back to the manufacturer for repairs, or that many of these need much in the way of parts, outside pellet cookers.

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I think it's just a case of dramatic exaggeration here. When Andy said such a cooker would be "worthless" what he meant to convey was that the resale value would be less, as explained in his follow-up post. Of course the intrinsic value remains unchanged, so if you like the smoker/Pontiac and have no plans to sell, you are unaffected.

(Of course in the world of cars, retired brands can actually increase in value, but until a "collectors" market for smokers appears we don't have to worry about that)

Saw a nice new G2 Party and a G2 Competitor with stainless doors this weekend. Pretty sexy to be honest with you.

Humphrey's and Backwoods are both great smokers and put out great BBQ. I've cooked on both.

The end

A Backwoods Gater is big enough to do an entire contest on if you plan well.

They have sold the model for years without listing it on the site. I recently saw it listed in the products. It is a lower priced alternative to some of the others you are considering; plus it has different dimensions so that it is capable of holding a full size steam pan.