Smoker Purchase

[MIBow]

I would like to ask for a smoker for Christmas this year. I am not sure what type to get. Can any of you "smokers" give me some suggestions.

thanks in advance!!

[Salmonsmoker]

MIBow,

Glad to see that you are interested in getting into making smoked foods.

About 25 years ago, I bought my first "Little Chief" Electric smoker. It can be purchased for 30 to 50 $$ at K-MART or Meijers, or most Sporting Goods stores. It works well for most projects - not very good for cold smoking or large projects that need hot smoke (known as Kippering). Max temp seems to be around 180 degrees - however, that is an excellent place to start.

After going through two of them (if you use them a lot the heating elements tend to burn out and they are not easy to replace), I went to making my own smokers for several years (first out of an old refrigerator, then out of an old gas kitchen stove), then, last Christmas, my wife bought me a Brinkman Professional Horizontal Smoker. It works great, however, it is also more expensive ($349.00 list price).

For around $100 you can get a Brinkman water somker. These work well for large items and higher temps, but will not do cold smoke very well.

If you want to go with an electric but the Little Chief is too limiting, They also make a "Big Chief" that is about twice the size and front-loads - making it easier to move foods-items within the smoke chamber. These sell for about 2X the price of the Little Chief smoker.

ss