Vertical 18" Charcoal Smoker

The media could not be loaded. I didn’t want to review this, I didn’t even want it after I ordered it. I tried to cancel it because of the horrible reviews that I somehow missed on first glance. But, I was too late and it still showed up. I decided to open it and give it a chance. Here’s my pros cons list and advice.Don’t assume the bad reviews on workmanship are reviews from people who are familiar with assembly (even just a little).Don’t assume the complaints about the usability are from regular backyard smoker dads and moms. No, this isn’t going to smoke enough for the neighborhood, and you aren’t going to be selected for the next season of Smokey Pete’s Competition Smoker Cook Offs.But, if you’re looking for a smoker that uses charcoal and won’t shutoff while you’re away for any one of 600 electrical causes (pellet smoker) and you want to create a mouthwatering main course for your friends and family, this unit will perform.Pros-stupid easy assembly-decent size for a good quality cook-attractive finish-water pan and charcoal pan are good sized-door handle is quality and won’t take your skin-the lower clasps are handy for access-extremely cost effective-the unit breathes wellCons-it isn’t perfect-there are some paint perfection issues-the handles aren’t amazing-there are gaps at the door for smoke to escape-also at the thermometer for smoke escape(It does need to breathe and this works)-it’s not going to take a full rack of ribs-the door mechanism leaves something to desireAll in all, this is a no brained and I’m happy it came, despite my desire to cancel based upon some bad reviews.

There are YouTubes you can watch to help you learn how to smoke with charcoal. Its very helpful. Use 1/2 a gallon of water for most smokes. Will do a brisket or a chicken or ribs very well. With charcoal you will have to mind the unit at least every 2 hours. A chicken takes 2.5 hours approximately. Ribs take 6.Compact and light. Easily stored and cleaned. You need to dump the ash every smoke so you don't rust out the lower vent. The analog thermometer close to correct. I always use a digital prob through the top vent.

If you're just wanting to get into low and slow smoking, this smoker isn't a terrible choice. If you're expecting WSM build quality and features, obviously you're going to be disappointed. I'm not adverse to buying used goods, but when it comes to cooking, I prefer to buy new.Pros:-Relatively Inexpensive - If you look at the competition, you're going to see a vast range of prices ranging from about $80 to upwards of $400. I did order this one during a Gold Box deal so I snagged this one on the low end.-Space - this is a 18" cooker with levels of cooking grates. The actual cooking surface is a little bit less than that (i think the grate is about 17") but I was able to do baby back ribs, pork shoulder, and chicken breasts without worrying about space.-Assembly - I was able to assemble the whole thing in about 15 minutes, the most difficult part probably being the legsCons:-Fit and Finish - Out of the box, the paint looks pretty good. Unfortunately, it scratches fairly easily especially in areas with lots of movement, like the door. Some of the rivets aren't 100% flush, but I haven't noticed any movement from them. The handles are also pretty cheap, I wish they were designed differently so they sat a bit more flush. Also, one of the catches for the bottom latches isn't straight so it sometimes takes me a few tries to secure the bottom-Leaks like a sieve - Smoke will leak out from the top of the door, from under the lid, and from around the top vent. The amount of leaking was probably what bothered me most. Without some modification, you're going to have smoke coming out everywhere-Small Coal Ring - the diameter seems appropriate, but it doesn't have much height so the amount of charcoal you can add is limitedAdditional Notes:-I purchased one of those rolls of Nomex barbecue gasket to help fix the leakage issues. I applied some to the edge of the door that sits against the side of the smoker. I also applied to two additional areas: Under the lid where it mates to the rim of the middle section and to the edge of the underside of the top vent that sits directly on the lid. This mostly fixed the issues with smoke leaking out of where it shouldn't be-In addition to the gasket, I added additional washers to the door handle assembly to remove some play in the handle. This made the door sit more firmly against the body of the smoker eliminating further leaks.-I purchased a coal ring for a 18.5" WSM to alleviate the short coal ring issues, it's about a half inch wider so it's a tighter fit but it is more than twice as tall.-Weird design for the Coal Bowl- the bowl for the coal has vents cut into the center of it. Still not sure how I feel about it.-The built in thermometer shouldn't be trusted, but this is true for pretty much all bi-metal thermometersEven with the issues I listed above, I still think this was a good purchase. Yes, I had to put a little bit of work into it with some additional cost, but even with all of that, I'm still well below the monetary cost of the competition.