In Praise of Tall Stack Heights on Offsets

[Connor_Macleod]

Looking at the Pitts and Spits smoker discussed on this thread...

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=300750

I noticed just how short the stack is on the Pitts and Spits smoker in question, which got me thinking about the stack height on my current offset and how much I appreciate it.

The stack tip on my Big Phil's offset stands a full 6' 10" above ground level. I'm only 5' 10" on a good day (realistically more like 5' 9", but I like to claim I'm as tall as my wife who's a long-legged smokin' hot blond :grin. Anyhow, with the smoke exiting the stack a full foot+ above my head, I really enjoy never having the smoke blowing directly in my face when I'm hanging around the offset. Plus I have done a lot of work in my day job developing natural gas turbine power plants, and I think tall stacks are cool.

After my current offset with its luxury tall stack, it would be hard for me to go back to a cooker where the stack was short enough to blow smoke right into my face.

 

[1MoreFord]

Typically tall stacks have a better draft than short stacks. It's called stack effect and you can google it for a better explanation.

 

[gtsum]

I had a pitts and spitts 24x48 many years ago and I have a workhorse 1975 now. There is no comparison between the two..the workhorse pulls a lot more air, is far easier to maintain whatever temp I want and is just a lot easier to use (firebox is way too small on the pitts). I also didn’t like the cover on the Pitts stack


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Jmgunn]

Good point. Never considered that but I don’t have to deal with that on mine either.