Egg or other smoker?

Unknown · June 2006

I am thinking about getting an Egg, however I am not sure it will perform like a seperate box smoker.[p]Anyone with some insight??[p]Thanks ahead of time.[p]Bob

Eggtuary · June 2006

Bob B,
A few weeks ago, I entered my first BBQ competition. Everybody else there either had an offset smoker like you're talking about, or a Weber Smoky Mountain. I competed on just the one Large Egg. My wife and I got 7th place out of 25 teams. Other teams with more impressive results cook on nothing but Eggs, and do really well: Big Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. BBQ, Dizzy Pig, etc.[p]The biggest limitation with the Egg is the amount of food you can cook at one time, but a lot of us have been pretty creative about it, and done just fine. For a backyard cooker, I think it's hard to beat. The food is fantastic, and it's just a heck of a lot more flexible than an offset or other smoker. Not too many smokers have the ability to sear steaks at temps well over 600F![p]The efficiency of the Egg is pretty impressive, too. During my competition, I used maybe 10 pounds of charcoal. When I cook at home, I can use the same load of charcoal on 3 separate occasions if I'm doing a bunch of short cooks. I've never experienced anything like it.[p]I'm sure our more experienced folks on this forum will provide more useful insights. Good luck with your decision!

chmoo · June 2006

Bob B,
It will outperform a separate box smoker in every way. I have a *big* separate box smoker of my own design and for years would only cook turkeys on it because of the results it gave. I get the same results on the egg and with a lot less effort.

Photo Egg · June 2006

Bob B,
I have custom off set smoker made from 3/8"
pipe and plate steel. I can fit more food on it compared to my Eggs and it looks way cool. These are the only two advantages.
The Eggs cost way less to cook with.
The Eggs hold heat and retain moisture in the food better.
I would hate to see what would happen if I cranked my big smoker up to 800 degrees for a good steak.
Temp control with the Egg is "much" easier.
I would not even think of walking away from my off set for 8 hours like I would with my Egg.
Last but not least, all the cool toys made for the Egg and all the help from this site.
Darian

fishlessman · June 2006

Bob B,
you are right, it will not perform like a separate box smoker. it can hold temps at 145 degrees for jerky, smoke brisket ribs and pulled pork at 220 degrees, roast turkeys prime rib loins chickens from 300 to 450, cook pizza at 550, sear steaks at temps higher than 1000 degrees. the only similarity might be that they both win bbq contests

Unknown · June 2006

Bob B,[p]If you want to compare to another smoker, you might want to list the other seperate box smoker and maybe one of the people on the forum would have one and could give you a report on how it might compare to one of the Eggs. [p]The Eggs are great little cookers and in my opinion, the best all around backyard cookers if you can use all their features. [p]Dave

BurntRaw · June 2006

Bob B,
Look I have been cooking on an egg longer then anybody...........sitting on either side of me at this exact moment in time, and I can say the Egg is hard to beat. My first egg replaced a New Braunfels off-set smoker and a WSM. Loved them both for what they could do, but they could not do all the Egg can do or as well.[p]Still, at times, I miss the big-time fiddle factor that was required with the off-set.

badbruce · June 2006

Hi Bob B,
My last off-set was a New Braunfels & after 5 years of use I gave the rust bucket to my son, which he still uses.
The lid became warped from the heat & maintaining constant temps was not doable.
Anytime I did a low&slow I practically had to sleep at the foot of the thing & it required constant attention.
Fuel cost was also an issue as I could only get one cook out of a small load of lump.
I believe over time my Eggs will pay for themselves in fuel cost savings.
Cheers,
bruce

Egg or other smoker?

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