Wood Smoker or Pellet Grill?

[squirrelwhisperer]

Years ago I tried my luck with a wood smoker. Serious learning curve. Needless to say I failed miserably. Mrs. Squirrel made me get rid of it. I did because at the time it was the lesser of 2 evils. So now I wanna try my hand at smoking again and was looking at the Traeger pellet grill/smoker. My brother calls it the "EZ Bake oven for men" because he is johnny Smokey now since he has lived down south for the last several years. What are your thoughts? Struggle with the wood again or start eating well smoked food much sooner? What do you use and why? 

[Robhuntandfish]

you didnt list here but my vote is electric.  Wood still burns and its not gas so still great flavor and yet super easy.  IMHO

[squirrelwhisperer]

OK let me be more specific. The smoker I am looking at burns pellets and has an electric auger and thermostat. plug it in, fill it up, light it, set the temp and watch a timer lol. EZ Bake oven pretty much sums it up. 

[Rack Attack]

I have a treager and really like it.  I think it does a really good job and is easy to use.  I like that the model I have has the wifi setup so that I can monitor and adjust from my phone so i don't have to babysit it all the time. 

[Fletch]

I am looking for a pellet Smoker as well but of course the ones like Traeger and ZGrills are Chinese and I will do all I can to not buy that shit.

So looking at USA made is definitely more challenging and 3 times the cost. But most likely worth it. 

Yoder and Blaz'n are two I'm looking at.

[squirrelwhisperer]

54 minutes ago, Rack Attack said:

I have a treager and really like it.  I think it does a really good job and is easy to use.  I like that the model I have has the wifi setup so that I can monitor and adjust from my phone so i don't have to babysit it all the time. 

that is awesome!

[REDNECK4LIFE32]

I have a pit boss electric pellet smoker. Auto auger system. Set it and forget it. Keeps good temps and meats turn out great. Very efficient with pellets. Got mine on clearance as a gift from my wife. Can't wait to fire it up here soon.

[Moho81]

I just started with a cheap electric analog smoker. It’s more work than an automatic pellet smoker but honestly at $170 bucks it works better than expected. Only thing you have to do is replace the wood chips once an hour for the first few hours until the meat gets up to temp. As a complete novice I’ve smoked pork chops and corned beef and both turned out fantastic.


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[Unit8R]

I researched YouTube and Amazon reviews and decided I wanted a set and forget unit with WIFI and decent reviews. So bought a Camp Chef smoker and have been happy with it after sausage (add $$$ for a good grinder), chicken, pork shoulder, salmon etc. Smoking is an art and I thought a "paint by numbers" setup was a good beginning. I've had the luxury of tasting Indigenous folks' smoked salmon on the Oregon Coast and got the bug back then. They wouldn't hear of a pellet smoker and the woods they chose were family secrets like alder and myrtle, maybe get there someday but having a blast with my current setup and not having to baby sit it. Good luck!