Barrell House Cooker

S

stan5677

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Was perusing the local Wally World yesterday and saw the Barrell House Cooker for 179.00. Looks like a Pit Barrel Cooker knockoff. What are some of y'all opinions on it?
 
Long history. The company that makes it breached confidentiality and contracts with the Pit Barrel owner Noah. They were supposed to build for Noah and instead stole the design and made their own.

IMHO they are thieves and don’t deserve a nickel. In the market for a pre made charcoal smoker buy a PBC or a WSM.

Edit. Lawsuits are in progress on the patent violation.
 
It is the definition of a knockoff.

Haven't seen any reviews here. Not many have given it a chance
 
I don't like the shadiness of the business side of things as stated by Stlsportster. My opinion is that their small cooker is nice because it takes up less space and comes apart like a WSM. If you were going that route though, I think the smaller WSM is a good way to go.
 
That’s just a lawsuit from three years ago. Filing a lawsuit does not make a defendant guilty, I believe that requires a jury and judgement. Was there a ruling against BHC? Or settlement? Like most, the existence of the lawsuit would cause me to avoid the purchase.
 
So these facts are not in dispute:

PBC was on the market first.
BHC owner was a vacuum canister manufacturer. They did not make smokers.
PBC owner Noah approaches BHC owner and begins negotiations, sharing specs of the smoker.
BHC stops deal with PBC and starts making their own smokers.

You make your own decision.
 
Stlsportster said:
So these facts are not in dispute:

PBC was on the market first.
BHC owner was a vacuum canister manufacturer. They did not make smokers.
PBC owner Noah approaches BHC owner and begins negotiations, sharing specs of the smoker.
BHC stops deal with PBC and starts making their own smokers.

You make your own decision.
Click to expand...

Pretty much sums it up. I would not want to reward someone for doing this by buying their product.
 
I, and many others here, make our own version of commercially designed products for our own use. And there are many ways to build a product similar to another without copying it. But the direct, business link to the PBC makes selling the Barrel House Cooker wrong.
 
Agreed, if I were to buy a hanging barrel cooker, I would avoid the barrel house cooker. Seems shady. I wonder if there was a settlement or a judgement still. In the end it could end up being better for Noah on receiving a settlement amount, or a royalty for every barrel house cooker that is sold.
 
I don't have an issue with copycats. I do have an issue outright stealing ones design as it appears BH did. For that reason I wouldn't buy one
 
Definitely seems like an underhanded move. I am curious though - what does PBCs patent cover? Isn’t PBC just a drum smoker with a meat hanger ?
 
I wonder how many folks here - because of cost - purchased RTIC coolers or tumblers instead of YETI, the company they blatantly ripped off...
 
So there is an old adage in the age of product uniqueness that even the un-copyable product will quickly be copied and sold by competitors...which is what happened with Yeti and RTIC...after the Yeti had been out for over 8 years.

However in this case its the dirtiness of the deal. If the BHC guy had bought a PBC on the open market and copied it to make his own, less expensive design....one thing....

But to enter into good faith negotiations with someone, get access to their plans...and then steal the idea....I call foul.
 
Stlsportster said:
Long history. The company that makes it breached confidentiality and contracts with the Pit Barrel owner Noah. They were supposed to build for Noah and instead stole the design and made their own.

IMHO they are thieves and don’t deserve a nickel. In the market for a pre made charcoal smoker buy a PBC or a WSM.

Edit. Lawsuits are in progress on the patent violation.
Click to expand...
I was looking at The Barrel House Cooker and then did some research. Some of the research led here to this very subject. My decision was simple after that. I bought the Pit Barrel. I am not fond of thieves. Sad part is they will be selling a ton of them if indeed they are in Wally.
 
charcoalwilly said:
Definitely seems like an underhanded move. I am curious though - what does PBCs patent cover? Isn’t PBC just a drum smoker with a meat hanger ?
Click to expand...
Pretty crazy how things work. I think what it is all about is the design with the air vent. The PBC is sort of a set it and forget it smoker. None the less he designed a drum smoker that works well and basically anybody can set it up and do it.

One of the craziest patents I have seen is on a Zero Turn Mower (ZTR) A brand called Ferris put shocks on a mower and called it their own. I don’t know if things changed, but no other ZTR mower has physical shocks, they have to come up with some other type of suspension. Just boggles my mind as every car, truck and motorcycle on the road has shocks, how can you patent that?
 
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