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.
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.