All You Need To Know About Charcoal
Smokers!
Thanks for visiting Charcoal-Smokers.com! This website is intended to provide you with all you need to
know about BBQ charcoal smokers. If you love to BBQ, then there's a good chance you either own a charcoal
smoker and are looking for new ideas, or you just do a lot of grilling on charcoal and/or gas grills and are
interested in expanding your BBQ equipment inventory to include a charcoal smoker for "low and slow" cooking.
If you fit either one of those categories then you've come to the right place!
Why Should You BBQ On Charcoal Smokers?
Barbecuing on charcoal smokers are preferred by both amateur "back porch" BBQ fanatics as well as those on the
competition circuit. The reason is that cooking with charcoal provides a nice smoky flavor in the food,
especially when you add a few chunks of smokewood or wood chips to the charcoal bed during the
cook.
What Types Of Charcoal Smokers Are Available To Purchase?
There are vertical charcoal smokers such as Weber
Smokey Mountain charcoal smokers (also referred to as "bullets") that consist of a charcoal grate in
the bottom section, a water pan above that for indirect cooking and then the grill grates about that. The air
vents are typically located on the bottom and top sections allowing for an upward air draft that slow cooks the
food with the slow burning charcoal and as well as the steam from the water pan.
Some companies manufacture "cabinet" style charcoal
smokers that consist of a fabricated steel cabinets, insulated walls and a charcoal
grate or tray at the bottom (they kind of look like commercial refrigerators or
warmers). Backwoods Charcoal Smokers are one such
company that I highly recommend you check out. Another popular company are Stumps Charcoal Smokers.
Both the Backwoods and Stumps cookers are completely sealed and well insulated so they run very efficiently
and use less charcoal than a lot of other models on the market. They aren't cheap though and start
around between $800-$1,000 for the smallest models and then quickly increase from there with their largest
models. Generally speaking, most guys that invest in a smoker like a Backwoods or Stumps are either involved
on the competitive BBQ circuit or VERY serious BBQ fanatics.
There are also horizontal "offset" style charcoal smokers that generally consist of two barrel-shaped
chambers. There is a large one that is the main cooking chamber and then smaller "offset" chamber that is the
fire box. When considering offset BBQ smokers, it's very important to note here that there are two main
categories of offset charcoal smokers: cheap offset smokers and expensive offset
smokers.
The cheap offset smokers (or sometimes referred to as "COS's") usually have the two
separate barrels, made of cheap materials and don't maintain heat well. A couple examples of these
are Brinkmann charcoal smokers and Char-Griller charcoal smokers. The biggest issue with
these lower quality BBQ smokers is that it's common knowledge that heat and smoke want to go up, not to
horizontally. These lower end cookers simply discharge the heat and smoke straight out of the firebox chamber
(instead of channeling it like more expensive models) into the larger cooking chamber and therefore the
temperature is very hot on the side closest to the firebox and the meat will quickly dry out. It also causes
all kinds of air control issues. We highly recommend to stay away from these low end BBQ smokers if you are
even slightly serious about BBQing.
Expensive offset smokers (or "EOS's") are typically the ones you see at competitions or rigs
that professional caterers are using. These horizontal smokers are much different in that they are made
of very thick steel and retain and distribute heat well. Some of the most expensive models have a reverse
flow system that travels the heat and smoke across the bottom of the smoker below the food so it enters
the cooking chamber on the opposite side of the firebox and then slowly drifts back across the food to
the firebox side where the chimney is mounted and exits the smoker. Most charcoal smokers like these are
purchased by manufacturers that solely specialize in large, professional BBQ smokers that are meant to be used in a
commercial environment (such as BBQ restaurants or professional catering) or by competitive BBQ teams.
In additional to traditional vertical and horizontal charcoal smokers, you may
also be intersted in kamado charcoal smokers. Kamados are
generally made of thick ceramic walls are incredibly versatile in that they can cook at extremely high heats
(good for searing steaks) or very low heats (good for "low and slow"). Kamado BBQ smokers, also commonly
referred to as ceramic grills, have been around for centuries (starting out as clay pots) and control heat
better than any charcoal smokers on the market because of their 1" - 2" thick ceramic walls.
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