Weber 18-inch Smokey Mountain Cooker, Charcoal Smoker

I have probably a dozen cooks on this smoker so far and all have turned out well. I like the small size of this smoker...perfect for smoking 2 slabs of pork spare ribs on the top grill with room on the bottom grill for more. I'm using this smoker with a Maverick digital thermometer I bought from Amazon too...the type of thermometer that shows pit temps and has a probe for food. My advice, buy the Maverick thermometer and forget about using the thermometer that comes in the lid. You want to measure the temp at the food grate where you are cooking and not the temp in the top of the lid, and the Maverick Thermometer has both a transmitter and a receiver so you can view pit and food temps up to 200' away from the smoker. I often use the smoker while I'm inside while it's hot outside, and by having a receiver thermometer, you can keep an eye on your cook w/o standing over itFWIW I also have the 18.5" WSM and I bought a pit blower for it. The pit blower is a fun gadget to use but not really necessary so I don't use the pit blower on my 14.5" WSM. As stated...it just isn't needed. You can keep a fire going at a steady rate (temperature) in this pit without the blower, and by using the Minnion Method of charcoal keeping, you can read about elsewhere, and speaking of which, there is a great online community for the Weber Smokey Mountain smokers (Virtual Weber Bullet). In fact, that forum links to Amazon's website to purchase this pit and other Weber accessories for this smokerI have absolutely no complaints using this smoker, and I felt I did a lot of research before buying it. If you've ever used a Weber grill, then you will realize this smoker will reflect Weber's high quality standards found in their other products. Seriously, if you are looking for an easy to use smoker, then look no further, and buy and use Kingsford charcoal with it (in the blue bag). There's quite a bit of information about what type of charcoal to use and not to use on the Virtual Weber Bullet ForumBy adding chunks of specific wood for smoking, you can achieve true wood smoking on this charcoal smoker. I had a horizontal wood fired smoker 14 years ago which was lost through a move, and I wanted to replace it with another smoker of the same type, but I'm glad I bought this smoker instead as it is simpler to use, smaller, less expensive and you can still get the same great wood smoke taste with this one, and use less wood, and the fire is way easier to keep at a constant temperatureI'll say this...if you want to smoke packer briskets, you'll need to use the larger Weber Smokey Mountain smokers, and is why I bought the 18.5 WSM smoker, which easily accommodated a 15 lb. packer brisket, after trimming. You could smoke a brisket flat on this 14.5" WSM but if you want to smoke a packer (point and flat) then you'll need the either the 18.5" or the 22" WSM. I think I have the best of both worlds owning two of these (one 14.5" and one 18.5")

2021 Update:The smoker finally got stuff growing inside after about 5 years, which made me sad. My final thoughts are The 14 was definitely the right choice for me. It gave food lots of smoke flavor we loved. The only drawback for these things is the monitoring of the heat as with very long overnight cooks the wood/charcoal can get critically low impacting the cook. This is also why the 14 was a good choice as was not heavy with food loaded to remove the top pieces from the pit and add more fuel.That’s really the main drawback with these things, the monitoring part. That’s why I didn’t replace the unit when it failed and bought a Traeger instead Ironwood instead. Still happy though with this purchase and it’s 5 year service life. Great intro to smoking foods.End 2021 Update.First off after reading all the reviews I was convinced to go with the 22inch version and call it a day. That would have been a big mistake - that is the problem with buying products online, you don't get a sense of the product. Fortunately I have a bbq shop near my home that stocks the 22 & I can tell you it is huge (like a New York style round trashcan) and heavy (50-60 pounds?) Looks like more for commercial purposes than home cooking.Once I saw that monstrosity, I realized my choice was between the 18&14 inch size. After much research and measuring, I realized the 18 inch version was too big as well (& must be equally heavy) - the 18 inch seems like the right size for someone who entertains for 40+ people regularly - overkill for someone wanting to invite his family over or cook for his own family. To put it in perspective, you can fit two pork butts on the 14 and 4 butts on the 18 - I recently did one butt and had enough pulled pork for 6 adults and 6 kids, and there were left overs that could have fed at least one more family (2 adults and 2 kids) - this means I can feed 12-16 with one butt and 24-32 with 2 on the 14 - more than enough. There is a reason Weber started making the 14" again - it is perfect for a small gathering.Also, the 14 uses less fuel and will cost less per use in the long run (for example if you smoke 2 butts in the 18 (versus its capacity of 4) u need to use more fuel because of the bigger space to heat up. Remember the unit is engineered/designed for use of Both racks (which makes the 18 more efficient for 4 pork butts versus the 22 for example).Another bonus is the 14 kept the temperature very consistent and did not overheat like some have noticed with the bigger models (must be all that charcoal) Finally the 14 is portable (and used around the world by bbq teams that compete) and easier to clean given its smaller footprint.My 14 had enough room for us to cook a slab of 5 pound brisket bought at our local warehouse club and an entire slab of baby back ribs cut up into 3 parts. The ribs were perfect and moist - the brisket was perfectly smoked and tender. I did this for my family and we could have easily fed another 8 people. Using the minion method of heating coal (in middle area) there is was enough fuel for an overnight cook 13+ hours at 200-210. I couldn't be happier with the 14inch size and am convinced it was the right call as it is efficient and portable. As a bonus cleaning it was easy as well. If you are on the fence, go with the 14" and use the 100 bucks saved on accessories and food. You will thank me as the others are overkill unless you have a business or cook regularly for 40 (18") or 70 people (22"). Happy smoking!