Since time immemorial there have been thought to be two types of people who BBQ, those who casually grill on the weekend for family or friends and those that treat barbequing as a lifestyle and are completely enveloped in the culture. And while you may think that using specialized equipment such as smokers would fall into the latter category, this isn’t necessarily the case, as BBQ smoking has become more and more mainstream recently.

And it is easy to see the draw of BBQ smoking. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a quality smoky flavor on a good rack of BBQ ribs? And it’s this smokiness that can only truly come from using a BBQ smoker.

However, many people are still intimidated to even think of using a BBQ smoker, or worse yet, those that think smoking isn’t worth the bother. If this sounds like it might you, don’t be intimidated, you’ve come to a judgment-free zone. Below, you will find our complete buyer’s guide for BBQ Smokers to help you get the most out of your smoker grill. In it, we will go over all the pertinent details, such as choosing the right fuel type, body, and configuration for your smoker. We will also give advice on choosing your smoker’s configuration and even some tips on how to tell the different classes of smokers apart. So, please prepare to read on and while you do, for motivation, imagine that first juice brisket you’ve pulled out of your new smoker is waiting for you at the end of this guide.

 

Choosing Your Smoker’s Fuel Type

While smoking used to be the exclusive purview of charcoal grills or wood smokers grills—and some traditionalists would insist this is still the case—but there have been great strides made in alternative categories of smokers such as gas and electric smokers. And each style will have its own benefits and disadvantages. So, let’s take a look at four of the most popular types in hopes of helping you figure out which one is right for you.

Charcoal BBQ Smokers: Charcoal smoker grills are one of the original, and some would argue best, types of smokers on the market. Charcoal briquettes tend to react similarly to wood when used during smoking. Many people swear they produce the most smoke-filled flavor thanks to the levels of smoke their combustion process can create. And while using charcoal grills can take some getting used to, don’t let it intimidate you. Once you’ve got the hang of it, monitoring your fuel and smoke levels will become second nature, especially if you invest in a smoker temperature controller. One advantage that charcoal has that the others lack is the ability to add wood chips or chunks right on top of the burning charcoal for an even more intense smoking flavor. If you’ve heard of kamado grills, they fall under this classification, and if you haven’t read about them here.

Electric BBQ Smokers: Tell a purist that you plan on smoking some meat in your electric smoker over the weekend and you’ll either be met with guffaws or stony silence. And while BBQ enthusiasts may turn up their nose at an electric BBQ smoker, the truth is that these smokers have a lot of versatility and features that you won’t find in any other type of smoker. For example, electric smokers are some of the easiest to operate, because they don’t need to be babysat to stay at a constant temperature and they don't need to be refueled mid-smoke due to built-in thermostats monitoring the internal temperature. This makes electric smokers some of the most convenient to operate. However, there are disadvantages to this style of BBQ smoker as well. They tend to over smoke food compared to other types of smoke hollow grills due to an inherent lower rate of air circulation and larger smoke boxes.

Gas BBQ Smokers: Thanks to the advantages of their fuel source, namely the steadiness and stability that gas can provide, these gas smokers grills are easy to operate due to the greater control they give over temperature and thus smoke output. In fact, they are almost foolproof once you know a few tricks to maximize their efficiency. Focus on the amount of time your food spends smoking and its internal temperature to ensure that you get perfect juicy pieces of meat with a nice smokey flavor every time. If you find that you have trouble getting a good internal temperature reading, a remote probe thermometer can be a godsend.

Pellet BBQ Smokers: If you are a true beginner to smoking, or if you're a veteran wanting something more convenient than a charcoal smoker, pellet smokers may be the choice for you. Pellet smoker grills are a much more accessible way to get into smoking as they do much of the leg work for you, such as temperature and fuel control. For example, once wood pellets are fed into the smoker’s hopper, they will then be fed into a combustion chamber automatically and regularly thanks to the unit’s auger. Read more about pellet smokers here. The last advantage that pellet smokers have is that they don’t require wood chips or chunks to create a great smoky flavor, as pellets themselves are perfectly capable of creating this by themselves already.

If you learn one thing about smoking from this article, let it be how crucial a regular and consistent fuel supply can be to properly smoke foods. One mistake most beginners will make is thinking a hotter fire will produce more smoke.  Actually, the inverse is true. Smoking is much more conducive to long and low temperatures.

 

Choosing Your BBQ Smoker’s Body Type

Now that we know a little bit more about different potential fuel types for your smoker, let’s take a look at BBQ smoker body types and how they can change how different units function.

Offset Smokers: Offset smokers are easy to recognize by their barrel-shaped frames, for a long time this was the most conventional smoker body type, and it remains popular today. The smoker will have a firebox that is set off from the main smoking chamber, hence the name. The offset chamber is where wood or charcoal is placed to produce smoke and heat, which is then wafted into the larger chamber. This style of barbecue smoker is one of the most intensive to use in terms of the amount of attention it requires while in use. This is because monitoring heat and smoke flow is largely left to the user. On one hand, this can be great as it allows for greater control over the smoking process, on the other hand, it requires constant attention while in use.

Vertical Smokers: If you’ve ever seen someone smoke meats in a cabinet-shaped box, you’ve seen a vertical smoker in action. Vertical smokers work by heating from the bottom up to a smoke box near the top of the unit. These smokers are normally electric, though you can find them in pellet or charcoal varieties as well. When compared to offset smokers they are much easier to manage as the design works with the natural tendencies of smoke and heat, which is to rise through the unit. The last feature that stands out about vertical smokers is their modular nature, which helps to make them the ideal smoker to be built into an outdoor kitchen or barbeque setup.

Unconventional Smokers: This last category of body type is a real wildcard. An unconventional smoker is a term that serves as a catchall for all sorts of smokers that don’t fit neatly inside either of the two previous categories. Because of this you never really know what someone means when they say they have a smoker with an unconventional body type unless you’re looking at it. This doesn’t mean that unconventional smokers should be avoided, however, as they can have real benefits and features which conventional smokers may lack. For example, they may have the ability to grill as well as smoke or some other added versatility.

 

Choosing Your Smokers Configuration

The next decision you will have to make after deciding between smoker fuel and body types is what configuration you want your smoker to have. For most this will be a choice between either a standalone unit or a built-in smoker. Below we will look at some of the pros and cons that each type has to offer.

Freestanding Barbecue Smokers: This type of configuration will be what most people choose when picking a BBQ smoker grill for a few reasons. The first is that a freestanding unit is more mobile. This can be advantageous if you plan on taking your smoker grill on the road or want to be able to easily wheel it into storage when not in use. Secondly, a freestanding smoker’s mobility can also be an advantage when it comes to cleaning your smoker. The smoking process is notoriously messy and there can be a lot to clean up after a long smoke session—drippings, soot, and ash to name a few. Being able to wheel your smoker around while cleaning is a clear advantage that will make the job much easier. Just be sure to look for a unit that has industrial-strength wheels, as a broken wheel seems to crop up at the most inopportune times.

Built-in Barbecue Smokers: If you are an avid smoker, a built-in barbecue smoker might be right for you. While you give up the ability to take your smoker with you when it is built-in, you also gain back some other unique advantages. One such advantage would be that once a smoker is installed in an outdoor kitchen you’ve effectively enlarged your available cooking area, most likely many times over. This means you aren’t limited to only what you can grill or cook conventionally, as once a smoker is added to the mix your options really open up. And a smoker grill doesn’t need to be relegated to the outside, units have been known to be built into main kitchens before. When doing so, just make sure you are following all of the guidance your unit’s manufacturer recommends when it comes to clearance and airflow before you install one indoors.

 

Choosing your BBQ Smoker Class

You might not have guessed it, but barbecue smoking can be a little classist. Of course, we’re joking! Good BBQ and smoking are for everyone. What we meant was when it comes down to grouping smokers, you will find different tiers of quality, features, and performance. We’ve broken down these class types into four distinct categories and have come up with a few defining characteristic features for each that will help to define them. And don’t feel bad if you aren’t interested in one of the higher-end models, a quality smoker can be found at almost any price point.

Luxury Barbecue Smokers

• Made by the oldest and most trusted brands, often they have longer warranties, typically lifetime guarantees.
• Constructed out of professional-grade materials such as 304-stainless steel, which increases their durability as well as adds to their curb appeal.
• Their cooking chambers are characterized by their tight seals and thicker insulation.
• Top-of-the-line features and greater versatility are defining features.
• Commercial smokers are made for constant use.

 Premium Barbecue Smokers

• Built to last for years, normally from stainless or powder-coated steel, these food smokers are plenty durable.
• Warranties of at least 10 years, if not more, should give you peace of mind when it comes to your purchase.
• Consistent cooking systems that are aided in their smoking ability by good insulation and provide great smoked food.
• The category where you are most likely to find electric smokers and all of their additional bells and whistles, such as digital temperature and smoke controls.

Practical Barbecue Smokers

• Made with standard materials that should hold up to repeated use if properly maintained. Thicker steel that will retain heat well and analog, as opposed to digital, controls are common features.
• These BBQ smokers can be had for reasonable prices and their composition and materials reflect this.
• Vertical smokers are most likely to be in this category.
• These smokers hit a sweet spot when it comes to cooking features and helpful systems, offering more features than the economy class—but not nearly as kitted out as the higher-end classes of smokers.

Economy Barbecue Smokers

• When compared to other classes of smokers, these are built to hit a particular price rather than a performance or quality level.
• Lower quality materials mean that parts break down more often and warranties are rarer at this level as well.
• A paucity of features to make smoking easier and a distinct lack of versatility in their cooking abilities.

 

Final Word: What You Need to Look for When Buying Your Smoker

You almost know everything you need to make an informed smoker buying decision. Now let’s tie it all together and look at some aspects that we’ve only briefly touched on above. This is where we will get into the nitty-gritty of BBQ smoking’s finer points. While some of the following may seem overly technical, trust us, even a cursory knowledge of these concepts will greatly improve your smoking experience when you finally buy a unit for yourself.

 

Insulation is Paramount

By this point, you’ve probably come to realize that BBQ smoking is all about heat retention and maintaining adequate smoke levels. So how can we ensure quality in both regards? In one word, insulation. The reason why insulation is so important is that it will greatly impact the amount of heat and smoke your unit can retain.

There are a few specifics you can look out for that should help with insulation. For example, when it comes to the construction of your smoker, remember that thicker materials are almost always better as far as insulation is concerned. When buying a smoker of your own, try to find one made with thick metal, which will radiate heat back into your unit. Furthermore, well-designed gaskets (either fiberglass or mesh is fine) and flanged lips can contribute a lot to quality insulation.

And always be sure to maintain these parts as well, because if they are leaking smoke, your food is missing out on all that smokey flavoring goodness that is escaping.

 

Keep Airflow and Temperature in Mind

Airflow and temperature regulation are the key to good smoking and great barbecue. These aspects are normally controlled through a venting (or damper) system. If you have a charcoal smoker you will control your damper manually, opening and closing the vents to affect airflow and temperature. Getting good at doing so is a little bit of an art form.

 If you have an electric or gas-fueled smoker, it may still have a damper or venting system that is utilized via automated temperature controls. This removes much of the human piece of this process.

No matter what type of smoker you use, it’s important to make sure the damper is in good working order, as it is the only way to control airflow and temperature.

 

Wood Chips & Chunks

Regardless of what fuels your smoker, almost all models will use wood chips and chunks as their primary smoking material (the exception being pellet smokers). And while many people think these are interchangeable terms, there is actually a distinct difference between wood chips and chunks and what they are used for.

In general, wood chips produce a stronger smoke flavor in a shorter amount of time and wood chunks are best suited for longer smoking sessions. Chunks are better for extended smoking due to their larger mass, which can often produce steadier streams of smoke.

 

Water Pans & Water Smokers

Smoke on the water is more than just a song by Deep Purple, it also accurately sums up a technique that some BBQ enthusiasts swear by, namely the use of water pans during the smoking process to add humidity and aid in temperature regulation.

How this helps with humidity is straightforward enough. But the temperature regulation process works because the water acts as a heat deflector and helps to radiate it back up into the smoker and whatever you are cooking.

And while this may be referred to as using water pans (or water smokers) the truth is you can use almost any liquid. Some enthusiasts enjoy adding spirits, apple juice, or even vinegar to the pan as they say it imbues the smoke with subtle flavors.

We’re Always Here to Help!

And there you have it, everything you’ve ever wanted to know about barbeque smoking but were too afraid to ask. By now you hopefully have your dream smoker all picked out. However, if you have questions about anything we’ve touched upon, or you just want to know more but BBQ smoking, please don’t hesitate to reach out through email, or by phone at 866-848-34-73. Our team of professional NFI-certified advisors is more than happy to help you with any questions you may have. For more information browse our section or check out these other articles from our Learning Center:

• Can You Use a Fire Pit Under a Covered Patio?
• Best BBQ Smokers
• Best Pellet Grills & Smokers