I got tired of trying to find an 18" WSM and picked up a cheapie 16" bullet smoker


 
Troy S

Troy S

TVWBB Fan
I bought my 22" WSM five years ago. I absolutely love it, but these days I mostly use it for big cooks when I'm hosting a large party or catering. It is such a charcoal hog, and because of the price of charcoal these days, I rarely use it for small cooks unless it is an overnight cook when I don't have time the following day. When I do have time for same-day smokes, I'm usually busting out one of my barrel smokers for some hot'n'fast 'Q and using significantly less charcoal. Wasn't as big of a deal a few years ago when major retailers used to run those amazing $9.88/twin-pack deals of Kingsford, but it looks like those days are long gone.

With that long-winded mess above being said, I cannot articulate my envy properly enough over whenever I see someone here or in the 'Fans of the WSM' Facebook group posting about an epic finding of the 18" WSM for a beautiful price, whether it's like new or used. I have been searching for a cheap 18" WSM since at least 2018! I live in southwest VA. BBQ isn't terribly popular here. It's a small, rural area. The one time I did find a nice price on an 18" in the FB marketplace, relatively close by, the guy never responded to my message. I always check retailers in August and September, the time when grills and smokers are often marked down, and no luck.

Four years of lookin' around, I got tired of it and randomly encountered a brand new 16" Char-Broil bullet smoker at a yard sale for $30 bucks. I added a gasket to the door. Tried adding a gasket around the top lid, but the lid wouldn't fit properly so I removed it. I did a little burn-off of the factory material residue with some old meat and old coals. Gasket on the door works great; smoke leaks around the lid, but not terribly. It's definitely no WSM. Seems well built for such a cheap bullet smoker, even though the metal isn't terribly thick. I'm going to try smoking a pork butt on it this weekend to see how it performs and how efficient it is regarding charcoal management.

If it runs through coals quick, oh well, it's just a $30 loss. I regret not biting the bullet (low quality pun unintended) on a new 18" WSM when it was $300 a few years back, just because it would have paid for itself in the long run, as an 18" costs as much as what I paid for my 22" back in 2017 now.
 
Happy smoking ;)
I'm sure you'll do well with it.
I used a friend's smoker when on holiday. Think he paid 30 euro for it new in the box, and it works! I did chicken as that's normally a sure bet.
You may struggle with a big chunk of meat that needs to be cooked real slow, but I figure you would be fine with smaller pieces, and with chicken and pork
Enjoy
 
Two things surprised me, in a negative way: 1.) the lid sits over top of the lip instead of 'inside', which might be an issue of condensation spilling out, and 2.) the water pan is freakishly shallow. I usually run a dry, foiled pan in the WSM, so not sure how it will go with this bullet.

Looking forward to giving the pork butt a spin on it on Sunday. Although my search for an 18" WSM wages on!
 
A long time ago I cobbled together an ECB (El Cheapo Brinkmann) and that thing cooked some good tasting meat for years. That Char Broil should provide better temperature control and give you good service. Once you get it gunked up the leakage around the lid will likely get better. Have fun.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
How about a picture?
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Char-Broil Bullet Smoker.jpg

This was from the burn-off of the factory residues/oils/etc. with old pork sausage and old country ham that I tossed. Sloppily added a gasket to the door, which helped, because zero smoke leaked there! Heavy smoke leaked from the lid, but the gasket was too thick. Lots of condensation spilled down the outside, unfortunately, which is a design flaw from the Char-Broil, and I suspect it is because the lid overlaps the base.

Caribeque Tacticalories Chicken Leg Quarters.jpg

Saturday, I finally gave it a proper whirl with an actual cook: hot-and-fast chicken leg quarters without the water pan. They finished uber quick.

About 35 minutes. If anything, this could be a dedicated chicken cooker, because for 16", it holds a surprising amount of grub. Smoke leaked from the lid, and I'm sure that fed the fire.

On Sunday, I installed an Oklahoma Joe's gasket around the lid and now the lid sits quite snug! Before, it didn't. So hopefully that will help me. I plan on doing a smoked chuck roast in the next day or two, and I'll update with those results.

@Jeff Boudman -- That's funny. About 3.5 hours away. I have family in Rock Hill, SC. Used to spend a lot of time in Charlotte, but it's been a while.
 
David-B said:
wow, it is...I may start storing mine in the garage again, I have it double covered and it still looks pretty new @ 8years old
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I cleaned creosote out of mine for first time recently......$30 of oven cleaner. And I still couldn't get the lower grate clean. I even pressure washed it and it wouldn't come off. I never use this grate but it had a rhick hard build up around the edges of it. Yeah, I did it in garbage bags let it soak blah blah blah didn't help that grate
 
MartinB said:
I cleaned creosote out of mine for first time recently......$30 of oven cleaner. And I still couldn't get the lower grate clean. I even pressure washed it and it wouldn't come off. I never use this grate but it had a rhick hard build up around the edges of it. Yeah, I did it in garbage bags let it soak blah blah blah didn't help that grate
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Razor blade or 6in1 tool scraper. Then grinder with wire wheel it that fails;-)
 
Nice looking smoker,to bad you are sp far away as I have a 18 that I hardly even anymore. But when I do it works very well.
 
MartinB said:
I cleaned creosote out of mine for first time recently......$30 of oven cleaner. And I still couldn't get the lower grate clean. I even pressure washed it and it wouldn't come off. I never use this grate but it had a rhick hard build up around the edges of it. Yeah, I did it in garbage bags let it soak blah blah blah didn't help that grate
Click to expand...
I hardly use the lower grate (I leave it out when not in use), but when I do, I soak it in a sink with dish detergent, and it scrubs up nicely with metal scouring wool. My top and bottom 18" grates look almost new after six years.
 
Rusty James said:
I hardly use the lower grate (I leave it out when not in use), but when I do, I soak it in a sink with dish detergent, and it scrubs up nicely with metal scouring wool. My top and bottom 18" grates look almost new after six years.
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Have you ever tried using a water heater pan? I put my graters 18,or 22 and let soak I have spares. Then use a weed digging tool to get the big chucks off then a SOS pad or green abrasive pads. Each time returning to the pan to soak the next layer.
With having 2 sets of grates you can do this more often so it goes faster.
Soak in sun with dawn , a lot less trouble.
 
Joe Anshien said:
Razor blade or 6in1 tool scraper. Then grinder with wire wheel it that fails;-)
Click to expand...
Yeah trying to do it the easy way, and hopefully not scratch the chrome plating off so that it rusts. Being closer to the fire the few times had this one in there.... Just burnt this stuff to where it doesn't dissolve with oven cleaner. I imagine I'm going to have to use a scraper or such and some elbow grease to get it. It's not that important to me because I never used this screen but still
 
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