What was your first smoker ?


 

Steve Petrone

TVWBB Diamond Member
Mine was a Little Chief electric smoker.

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZKZJMY/tvwb-20

It is a 12"x12"x24" aluminum box with an electric burner and burns sawdust for lack of a better term. It cost maybe $60 back in the day. $100 today.
It was great at flavoring anything you wanted to smoke. But it lacked temperature control. If I remember correctly, It would smoke meat then the meat went to the oven to finish.

What was your first smoker ?
 
18” WSM then, my brother gave me his 22” when he went to a pellet pooper. It was to big for me so, I sold it to a guy that was really happy to get one!
I got really lucky but, I found this site before I bought one! I got my 18 from a member! Great price, great guy, great unit!
 
I had a Little Chief too, but my first was an antique refrigerator. We're talking 1970's.
It had been dumped on a job site and was missing the door.
The smaller compressor compartment, on the bottom, was separate, so I had to make a hole to the upper part. Then I made a wooden door, used a hole saw to make two exists for the smoke, and a couple of swivel tin can lids to regulate.
A hot plate on the bottom, a pan of wood chips, and I was good to go.
I smoked cured bacon, cured hams, fish, and jerky in it.
There was no plastic anywhere. One time I checked the insulation, is was a few layers of foil on wooden frames, kind of like a canvas paintings.
Wish I had taken a picture of it.
 
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my 18" WSM!

Before it, liquid smoke was used for Jerky............ we'd dry deer jerky on strings in the unfinished basement & .....I was quality control each time I walked by. Also did it in the oven, & my old man thought the Ronco food dehydrators made the best gifts :) He gave several of them away, I even still have 2 of them I've stacked to increase capacity.

I probably got my WSM because of this site - my other contenders were the BGE but the price & lack of portability (and fear of cracking it) were the big deterrents from that.
 
I bought one of those aluminum electric smokers at a garage sale years ago. That was before the internet and it didn't come with instructions. It has the sawdust pan just like the little chief. I never found any use for it except to take up room in the shed.Believe it or not i still have it. I bet it's been in the same spot for well over 30 years.
But that was probably in the early 80's,and it wasn't long after that I bought a Brinkman. Somewhere along the line I didn't think it held enough so i bought another one. I don't count the electric aluminum box,so the Brinkmans were my first. Somewhere in the late 90's I bought an off brand stick burner. I never got the hang of that.
About 8 or 10 years ago,i kind of lost the smoking bug and got away from it. Until a couple years ago I decided to get back into it. Realizing Brinkman was out of business I bought an 18 WSM. Actually after using the Weber I am not sure you can count the Brinkman,or as far as that goes,the offbrand stick burner either.
So if you figure it that way. My 18 WSM actually is my first REAL smoker;)
 
I started with a Gas-powered Brinkmann, which I used for at least 20 years until I dropped a ladder on it. I then tried a cheapie WSM-style charcoal smoker and liked it very much. I got a real WSM - which I learned about via this web site - about 3 years ago.
 
I smoked for years with my 1980 Falcon Mark V gas bbq. Then on my Weber OTG22.5. I learned the true meaning of low & slow when I got my WSM22. I am still looking for a deal on an 18" to add to the collection
 
I started with something from Cabelas. It was called something like a 7 in 1 smoker. I don’t know all 7, but you could smoke or grill and you could use charcoal or propane. Sounded cool, but not great. When looking for help with bbq, I came across this site. I figured if there was a website dedicated to a certain smoker, I’d do well to get me one. So, I didn’t have anything but a Weber for long.
 
Mine as many likely, the ECB. EL Cheapo Brinkmann. I ruined a lot of good food on that,
but it taught me how to smoke, and gave me a true appreciation for the Weber.
 
ECB (El Cheapo Brinkmann) and COS (Cheap Offset Smoker) at the same time. 1. Brinkmann Gourmet (ECB). I modded the heck out of it and could maintain temps for 9 hours. 2. Char-Broil Silver Smoker (COS); modded it also. Both were floor models and I paid around $50 total. Cooked some great Q on both. When I bought my WSM (used of course), I gave the ECB to my BIL and sold the COS. OMG, that's a lot of acronyms!
 
My first was my Old Country 20 inch, that I got in 2011. I still use it from time to time, although I mostly cook on my WSM 22.5 On the bad advice of Amazingribs, I at first cooked in the Old Country with lump charcoal and chunks. I did that for a few years. Cooking with logs on it was a revelation. It actually performs with small enough splits.
 
18.5 WSM was my first smoker. I started looking at the BGE and similar makes and never pulled the trigger. I ran across this site and never looked back.
 
A Chargriller with the off set fire box. It made good food if you babysat the temperature. I suppose you could say it's the only real smoker I've ever owned since I've been doing low and slow with the kettles until I get another dedicated smoker.
 
A red Brinkman drum-style smoker bought with... MARLBORO MILES! LOL!

After that, I bought a WSM and it's been w/ me for 10 years or so.
 
Masterbuilt 7 in 1.

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In fact, I had a friend that had one also. When he switched over to a 18.5" WSM, I took his old middle section to double the capacity of my 7 in 1.

I was able to continue using it because, at the time, I was only competing in the Backyard Griller division of a Memphis in May contest and doing some cooking for the family. But after few years, I bought a 22.5" WSM and never looked back.





BD
 

 

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