Question for Competition Cooks

@SGH... Has a big unit but no t-shirt. 

EggSmokeVa said:

@SGH niiiiice! This is pretty much exactly what I'm thinking about... Any recommendations on where to shop around? How long have you had yours?

There are several great manufactures out there. At the end of the day, the main thing is to find one that meets your particular needs. A mistake that a lot of folks make is buying more smoker than they really need. While I have always advocated that bigger is better, you reach a point to where it is just longer practical to your needs. Remember, the bigger they get, the more fuel that they burn. If you are having to buy wood, it can add up really fast. Just something to think about. With that said I will point out a few things to consider when looking at smokers. First, the doors. If you will never cook whole carcass, 3 small doors are much easier to open and handle than one door. Especially the older that you get. On the other hand if you think that you may want to cook carcass, then the large single door is the way to go. No matter how large your smoker is, you meat size is limited by the door size. Then there is the option of cabinet style doors. Kind of the best of both worlds but usually much more expensive. Doors are often overlooked up front but should be one of your main considerations as they determine what can ultimately be placed in the smoker. Second is metal thickness. No matter what climate you live in, I recommend going with at least 1/4 thick metal. It will save you money in the long run on repairs. Then there are the reverse flow designs and standard flow. Both have their on strengths and weaknesses. A reverse flow will burn more fuel but more often than not it is more consistent across the grid and much more user friendly. Especially for a beginner. These are just a few of the things to look for. If you are thinking of buying a smoker, feel free to give me a call tomorrow afternoon. I will be glad to answer any question that you may have. I will gladly talk about smokers as long as you like. It would take me forever to type everything I have to say on the subject my friend. My name is Scottie. Number is 228-627-5400. I love to talk cooking and smokers, so feel free to call. I have just about every type of smoker that you can think of so I will gladly offer the pros and cons of each. 

Spaightlabs said:

Scotty - as you get older and your shoulders fall apart, just in case the boys aren't home while you are smoking on the big unit, you could always hang a counterweight  or 3 small counterweights on that long door

Absolutley you can counterweight them. However when you do, you have to consider some kind of latch for when you tow them. If you don't, I have seen the doors fly open while being towed. But you are correct, the counter weighting helps a lot when opening the full size doors. 

If youre thinking about competing, you need to consider the sleep factor.  A stick burner isnt going to afford you much sleep at competitions, especially if you cook low and slow.  I have a Lang that hardly ever goes to comps with me because of that reason.  I usually run my pair of Backwoods Party G2's with guru's and that allows me several hours of much needed sleep.  

If I were in a position to buy a new comp smoker right now, I'd look hard at gravity feds as that seems to be the trendy thing and the winners are using them.  Deep South and Stumps are both very popular on the competition circuit. 

If youre looking for a stick burner, you can pick up a used lang for pretty cheap if you keep your eyes open.  THey are reverse flow and very easy to regulate temps as far as stick burners go.  Shirley makes a heck of a cooker and seem to be very trendy in the stick burner world.  

Another one to look at since youre in VA is 270 Smokers.  I didnt like them at first but I got to cook on one a couple weeks ago and they are pretty sweet.  They owners have a comp team and they are pretty successful, they took RGC last weekend in a comp i attended.  

There's a lot more to think about in a competition smoker than just the smoker itself.  Are you planning to cook low n slow or hot n fast?  How much help are you gonna have?   Are you gonna cook all your meats on one cooker?  IF so, are you gonna want to cook them all at the same temp?  How are you going to get your cooker to the comps?  Where are you gonna sleep and get out of the weather?  How much space is it gonna take up (more space costs more $$ at comps)? How labor intensive is it gonna be?  Youre gonna have a thousand things to focus on, so concentrating 100% on a fire will take away from time you can spend doing other things.  

I've cooked on about every type of smoker there is and there's good and bad points to all of them. There's a handful of successful teams to represent each type of smoker, so they can all produce winning Q,  Its all about finding what is gonna work with your needs.  I cook either by myself or with only 1 helper, so for me, a more set-it-and-forget-it approach is helpful to allow me to multi-task a little better.  If you have any competition specific questions, I'll be glad to help you out.  I'm in NC so if you want to hook up for a competition next spring, I'd be glad to have you. 

And hippies are like mice - if you see one, there are probably more around.  You get a good hippie infestation going and it can be hell to get rid of them.