BurnMac42
Got Wood.
- Joined
- May 25, 2010
- Location
- Beavercr...
Well like the title says, I've apparently found myself down a rabbit hole. I've been shopping around for several years now looking for a replacement to my UDS. I've shopped standalone, pellet's, Assassin's, etc and I just couldn't justify the price for essentially a piece of equipment that my UDS could match low/slow wise. I don't need to cook for huge crowds and, don't full disclosure, I don't want/have the room to keep multiple cooking units all over the place.
So that lead me to eventually looking at the Kamado cookers. I've tried searching thru all the threads about them but most seem somewhat dated so I wanted to get some more real world feedback with the current generations of Kamado's.
What really attracts me to them is the versatility. Like I mentioned above, I don't have the space nor does my wife have the patience for me to have another big, multi-part hobby (even though she loves my meat :twisted. Before someone says she needs to be replaced she ENCOURAGES my car and wakeboarding boat obsession SO...I'll give her a pass on the only keeping 1 smoker haha...I like the idea of being to do low and slow but also if need be crank it all the way up for some "bick fire" pizzas and the full range inbetween. So with all that being said here is what I have gathered so far:
1. Komodo Kamado: Seems to be regarded as the Ferrari of this world. Looking at them I'm somewhat tempted by the 19" one. Keeps it under $3k and with a dual stack grate, I'm still almost doubling the cooking area of my current single stack UDS. The Hot/cold smoker generator has me curious as well...
2. Kamado Joe's: Some of the new tech really attracts me. The Divide and Conquer has been discussed on here before but does anyone have experience with the SLo Roller Hyperbolic Smoke chamber they are advertising on their website?
3. BGE: From what I gather I can trick out a BGE pretty much the same as a Kamado Joe so I feel like these two are very similar other than the new SLo Roller thing for the KJ.
One of my biggest concerns is all being equal will I be dissappointed going from a UDS to a Komodo style cooker? I've read smoke rings aren't as prominent on the Komodo's however that doesn't impact flavor so with all this is a Komodo style cooker still considered the swiss army knife of the Q world?
So that lead me to eventually looking at the Kamado cookers. I've tried searching thru all the threads about them but most seem somewhat dated so I wanted to get some more real world feedback with the current generations of Kamado's.
What really attracts me to them is the versatility. Like I mentioned above, I don't have the space nor does my wife have the patience for me to have another big, multi-part hobby (even though she loves my meat :twisted. Before someone says she needs to be replaced she ENCOURAGES my car and wakeboarding boat obsession SO...I'll give her a pass on the only keeping 1 smoker haha...I like the idea of being to do low and slow but also if need be crank it all the way up for some "bick fire" pizzas and the full range inbetween. So with all that being said here is what I have gathered so far:
1. Komodo Kamado: Seems to be regarded as the Ferrari of this world. Looking at them I'm somewhat tempted by the 19" one. Keeps it under $3k and with a dual stack grate, I'm still almost doubling the cooking area of my current single stack UDS. The Hot/cold smoker generator has me curious as well...
2. Kamado Joe's: Some of the new tech really attracts me. The Divide and Conquer has been discussed on here before but does anyone have experience with the SLo Roller Hyperbolic Smoke chamber they are advertising on their website?
3. BGE: From what I gather I can trick out a BGE pretty much the same as a Kamado Joe so I feel like these two are very similar other than the new SLo Roller thing for the KJ.
One of my biggest concerns is all being equal will I be dissappointed going from a UDS to a Komodo style cooker? I've read smoke rings aren't as prominent on the Komodo's however that doesn't impact flavor so with all this is a Komodo style cooker still considered the swiss army knife of the Q world?