Convince me to buy a smoker

[Don_]

Buy a smoker! Come on already!
I started with a 14.5 WSM, and still choose to use it over my new kettle for some things to this day.
It works, and works well. It's stable as can be with temperature control. It has flat out kicked a$$ for me since day one, and hasn't quit yet.
Yes, I can make good ribs in my kettle...but they are so easy to get right on the WSM.
Smoking a big batch of bacon is trouble free on my WSM...every time.
Do it....just do it....you know you want to...

[ramsfan]

Personally, I have found that the best smoking machine - bar none - is the Weber 26.75 Kettle. I used to have the big 22 WSM, the 18.5 WSM, and the 14.5 WSM. To me, the drawbacks to the WSM have always been four big things: Nothing to hold the lid for you when you want to tend to the food, no wheels so it has to stay wherever you put it until you're done, the water pan (I don't like using them), and having to control 3 vents. I found that using the 26.75 Weber kettle solved all these problems. It has a lid bale, it has wheels so it can be moved while cooking which is really handy if it starts raining in the middle of a cooking session, no water pan to fool with, and best of all temperature can be controlled with one single vent instead of three.

In addition to all these benefits, the 26.75 kettle has a rubber tip handle on the lid vent so you won't burn your hand, it has a one touch lever underneath so you won't burn your hands there either, it has an ash collection bucket underneath so you can clear ash away as the charcoal burns throughout the cook, the food and fire can both be tended to at the same time without having to bend over and it can be used as a grill or a smoker.

To me, I have always thought that food had a much better bbq taste on the 26 vs. the WSM. I guess because the smoke and heat were closer to the food? Also, I have always had better temperature control on a 26 rather than a WSM. The WSM controls temperature good, but the 26 is better. This is because there is only one seal on the whole unit: where the lid and bowl come together. On a WSM you have three seals: the bowl and the barrel, the barrel and the lid, and the access door against the barrel. Also, with the arrival of the new Slow n' Sear specifically made for a 26 kettle, smoking is even easier.

The WSM is a good piece of equipment, don't get me wrong; but if I had to choose either a 26 kettle or a WSM, I would choose the 26 without even thinking twice. If I had to choose one of the WSM's, I would go with the 22.5 model, that way it covers everything you might ever want to cook.

[pbe gummi bear]

Great post, @ramsfan

[Easy]

I do not have as many grils as some of you. And I have smoked meat on my performer, but it is hard for me to sit around and watch it and adjust it etc.
So I found a almost new WSM 18.5 FOR 160.00 only used like three times. I like it because it is much easier to set the temp on the way up and it will hold within 15-20 degrees for the whole cook with no fudging with it. Plus I can cold smoke on it.I can fit four / five Salmon filets at one time much more than a kettle. I also did five butts for church picnic for only a little more time than doing one. Plus it is a new tool to learn which half the fun.

[SmokenJoe]

Any Weber kettle from 14" SJ to the grand-dad 26.75" can cook both L&S or H&F (in some cases with a little difficulty).  Some enjoy the daisy wheel air intake system (for micro-adj w/ one vent) and some like the OTS style ash sweeper system for its ease.

The major difference that I've noticed in cooking between my kettles and my WSM is   ...   the meat/vegies/etc. are much closer to the heat source on most kettles as compared to the WSM.   The WSM has heat below some form of diffuser 'baking', if you will, the meal above on two grates.   The kettle typically (even w/ the Smokenator, Slow-n-Sear, etc.) has the meal in much closer proximity to that heat source.  On the WSM, turkey has a uniform color & appearance; on the kettles, even with regular rotation, turkey has uneven cooking appearance.

SJ