Curious-how many forum participants also routinely enter sanctioned Q competitions?

smokeyw

Angela said:

Nope and zero desire to. IMO the judging criteria is arbitrary and based on things that don't matter. To me it's all about the taste and texture and zero to do with if the pieces match perfectly or how nicely decorated the box is. And don't get me started on the dumb rib rules. 

Well that's not exactly right. The scoring is not arbitrary and based on things that don't matter. It is subjective however. All of the 3 categories (appearance, taste, texture) are weighted in scoring. The most important is texture, followed by taste, and least important is appearance. So you can see that the things that are most important to you are also the most important as far as the judging criteria.

stlcharcoal

Angela said:

Nope and zero desire to. IMO the judging criteria is arbitrary and based on things that don't matter. To me it's all about the taste and texture and zero to do with if the pieces match perfectly or how nicely decorated the box is. And don't get me started on the dumb rib rules. 

Depending in which region you're in, the judging its pretty well controlled.  Appearance has a low weighted average and serves more than a tie breaker than anything else.  It's more about consistency, color, amount of sauce or bark, etc.  Smoke ring used to be part of it, but they took it out since it can be chemically enhanced.  But there's no decorating the box--any marks on the box, toothpicks, garnish that isn't green lettuce or parsley, etc will get you disqualified.

In KC and STL, the scoring is whole numbers from 1-9, but if you score anything 5 or less and it has to be inedible, then discuss the score with the table captain.  Most everything is going to be 7-8's.   To ensure that no one is biased or just got a bad bite, the lowest score in each category for the table is always thrown out.  The boxes a numbered, then there's a number added to it that only the scoring people know--so it's a double blind system.

I'm not into the whole competition thing either, but you might consider taking a judging class to see how it all works.  Pretty interesting and it's not exactly like the TV shows make it out to be.

Tspud1

Angela said:

Nope and zero desire to. IMO the judging criteria is arbitrary and based on things that don't matter. To me it's all about the taste and texture and zero to do with if the pieces match perfectly or how nicely decorated the box is. And don't get me started on the dumb rib rules. 

What are the things that do not matter in the judging? What kind of rules are you thinking?

tarheelmatt

Dyal_SC said:

Jeremiah said:

Not yet but full intentions of it once the trailer is finished. I've even scouted a ringer, @Dyal_SC

Likewise @Jeremiah!  Can't wait. 

You've scouted well @jeremiah!  

Thatgrimguy

I compete. Have done 11 in a little over a year. I started with my xl egg and then quickly switched to UDS while waiting on my trailer smoker (reverse flow offset)

Thatgrimguy

Angela said:

Nope and zero desire to. IMO the judging criteria is arbitrary and based on things that don't matter. To me it's all about the taste and texture and zero to do with if the pieces match perfectly or how nicely decorated the box is. And don't get me started on the dumb rib rules. 

Taste is weighted heavily in first followed by tendernesS.  Appearance scores have way less weight to them, but people eat with their eyes. So, statistically, higher appearance scores come with higher taste and tenderness scores.

the point system In KCBS: 

Taste – 2.2972

Tenderness - 1.1428

Appearance - 0.5600

So you can see tenderness scores are 2x more important than appearance and taste is 4x more important. 

lousubcap

@Thatgrimguy -  you are bring overly modest regarding your trailer, a true top-shelf design operated by someone who has a heart of gold.   Only hope your great contributions to those in such a time of need are recognized well beyond this forum and other outlets.  A true act of selfless dedication.  

lousubcap

Man, KCBS is really serious going to 4 digits to the right of the decimal 1/10000.  The Olympics (swimming for sure) won't go to that level as pool wall/lane construction differences will most likely be outside that tolerance.  FWIW-