I've been in the market for a decent smoker for some time and I'm about ready to pull the trigger. What are most of ya'll using these days? Electric, propane, gas, charcoal or wood smoker? I know that the electric and propane ones are easy, but just something about having a real deal wood smoker or charcoal smoker seems appealing. Problem enlies where you can't find a decent wood smoker without paying an arm and a leg. Thoughts/inputs? Would love to build a big one in the yard too, but honestly i'm just not handy enough.

I can no longer stand to cook my ribs, pork butts and brisket in the oven. A man can only use liquid smoke for so long before he starts feeling like a vag!

A smoke house is not that hard to build. My dad built one at the camp in half a day. Works great but it looks like an outhouse

I bought my smoker from Academy. Due to space limitations on my patio I had to go with a side box model as opposed to the side box, pit & smoking chamber.

The thing you run into when going to a retail store is heat loss from the think steel they use, it's pretty thin compared to a custom pit builder. Most don't have a dampener which I really like as it controls heat flow into the cooking area. These can easily be added which is what I did with a quick trip to Home Depot.

http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/store ... N=77985508

Been sitting at work reading up on this all day, the joys of being a cubbie... Anyone got any experience with the Weber Smokey Mountain. I'm a big fan of Weber products and looks like the 18.5 might be a good deal. Keep it uniform?

I've owned a couple of different smokers but my wife's father just bought 1 and the thing is pretty sweet. It's not cheap but it does a good job.

http://www.traegergrills.com

I work in a metal fab shop where several smokers have been built for personal use and for others. The guys I work with do a lot of smoking, there are a few that used to use wood smokers but have gone to the electric and propane smokers. They swear by them, saying they are so much easier and more consistent. I have a wood smoker that I enjoy using, it can be alot of work monitoring the temp gauge and stoking the fire but I enjoy it. As westend mentioned you can get some decent smokers at the retail stores BUT they are THIN, usually made out of 11 gauge and if you do a lot of smoking it will not last for a long time. I know the custom built smokers or heavy duty smokers are kind of pricey but they will last for years and years, plus the just the material cost alone will easily hit between 3 to 5 hundred or higher depending on area you live in and whether you use 3/16" or go even heavier at 1/4". That's if you build it yourself.

We have an electric smoker at our houseboat that we got at Sams and it kicks ass.

Also have several propane smokers that I like. Screw messin with wood and charcoal.

This is very similar to one I want...

This is the one I use, and I use it a lot. It has great temp control from about 200-500 degrees. Plenty of room for 4 racks of ribs, 3-4 shoulders or briskets, and room for hanging sausages.

This is why I love my egg. It does it all.

When I wanted to given smokin a try I bought the one that is a gas grill and a smoker form Academy. That way if I didn't like to babysit the wood fire, I would still have a gas grill. Cheap and thin, but it works for now.

For pure ease, I traded in my propane smoker in for a Bradley digital smoker. Fill the smoke generator "magazine" with wood biscuits, set smoke generator timer, set temp, set time and walk away.

Well considering that I had to Google flyway highway to know what it was, that would be a no...

I just don't have time to constantly tend a wood/ charcoal smoker. Even the propane smoker needed s lot of tending and the lowest I could get the temperature was 235-240'. Too high for me.

I've had a CookShack electric for about four years. IMHO it isn't quite as good as a real setup with a separate fire box, but it's close and far more convenient. It is like a damned crockpot. You can just set it up and forget about it for the afternoon. When you come back, everything is ready to go. It does a great job on all barbeque and will even dry/smoke jerky very nicely.

I have an electric smoker. Works great. Black Friday deal at Academy for 100 bucks.

I had to work on Black Friday

Your gonna love smokin your own meats! I have 2 racks of ribs in the smoker right now, and will be smoking some baked beans a bit later.

Put them beans under the ribs and catch them tasty drippings!

This is the one have it was a 150 gallon propane tank with a fire
box on the back. I can fit about button on it if I need to. It is not to big but will cook plenty if I need to.
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They are done!

I smoked some more ducks this weekend. Some of the guys thought I was crazy until they ate it.

Paleo, that shit looks on time right there! Nice job.

Man that looks good. Anyone ever smoked whole birds/fowl. A beer can duck would be excellent on the WSM! Pros cons or not worth the effort?

Paleo, The pics aren't showing up? What'd you cook? Maybe its my settings on CPU?

cmk I smoke ducks and chickens all the time. Inject, season, and smoke. Very good and tender