British BBQ Society Forums

hello, i want to buy a dedicated smoker next month and i have about £300 to spend. Can anbody help me decide witch smoker is the best in that price range. Not ure if i should get a verticle bullet type or a horizontal one with the smoke chamber on the side.

Thanks Martin

Personally i'd go with a bullet smoker (and i have) as if you buy an offset smoker in that price range you'll most likley have to make a lot of alterations to the smoker before you can get it to cook a good meal.

ProQ or Weber are two of the better ones to look at.

Swindon_Ed wrote:Personally i'd go with a bullet smoker (and i have) as if you buy an offset smoker in that price range you'll most likley have to make a lot of alterations to the smoker before you can get it to cook a good meal.

ProQ or Weber are two of the better ones to look at.

Thx Ed.

i have been looking at the pro q. is it reliable in terms of heat control?
thx again.

I've got an Exel 20 which I love.

I don't use water in the water bowl, I've put a big clay saucer in to and now when i move the vents it's reacts instantly.

I'm now able to do long cooks over night and go to bed and come out in the morning with the temprature the same as when i went to bed.

If you've got a bit of your initial budget left over i would also recomend buying a Maverick ET-73 remote thermomiter as the one in the dome isn't acurate in any of the bullet's and you you can have the remote setup to go off when you need to do something so you don't really need to pay that much attention to it and you can carry on with your day as normal.

I would also recommend a bullet smoker. I have two offsets that I still use some, but I mostly use my Excel20. It holds a steadier temperature than the offsets. I have been using sand instead of water in the pan and that also seems to work very well as far as adjusting the temperature. May have to try the clay saucer as a comparison.

Ditto on the digital thermometer. Besides being more accurate than the lid thermometer, you don't have to run out to the smoker to make sure the temperature is all right.

At that budget I would say go for a WSM. The Pro Q's are great (I own 3) but the WSM is a better quality unit and it holds temps better.

I'd only go for an Excel over a WSM if you need the extra capacity, even then I'd probably stump up the extra few quid and go for a 22.5" WSM.

Get an WSM. They are superb, build quality wise and temp control is spot on!

Traeger's Rule

Thx for the advice peeps.

Looks like i will have to decide between a Proq, or the wsm...perhaps i will get both.

Good call on the Traeger Frank.

I love my Traeger and I do use it more than my bullets.

Mowse, if I were you and buying two smokers I'd get a WSM and a Traeger