Best Smoker Grill: Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker

This past Father’s day, my husband got the Weber’s grilling book as a gift from the kids. He has always been very adventurous when it comes to any type of cooking, but he definitely shines when it comes to grilling. I am actually quite inept when it comes to using the grill as he almost always does the grilling.

After trying out many of the recipes in the book, he was anxious to give smoking a try. While we recently just purchased our BroilKing Signet 90 gas grill, he tried smoking on it and though our food was smoked – it is not necessarily made for smoking. Once he tried a few roasts he was hooked on smoking his meat and was ready to get a smoker grill.

Because our gas grill isn’t the best for smoking, I decided that getting my husband a smoker grill would be a great birthday gift. I started to search online for the best smoker grill, checking out different reviews on many models. One of the smoker grills that received high ratings was the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.

This particular smoker grill actually comes in two different sizes however as our family has only four we decided to go with the smaller 18.5′ model.

Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker Review

Features:

heavy duty construction
built-in thermometer
large door to access firebox
tight fitting seals

As I knew that we would be using this smoker grill for many years, I didn’t want to just get the cheapest model.

I wanted a grill that would stand up to lots of use without falling apart after just one grilling season.

Grill Construction

The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is made from heavy duty steel that evenly distributes the heat throughout the cooker so that food cooks evenly. The steel on the smokers bowl, lid and waterpan is covered in a porcelain enamel finish which helps prevent any rusting. Because of this durable finish, it also allows the smoker to reach higher heats which is important for the smoking process.

You don’t have to worry about burning yourself lifting off the lid from your smoker as the nylon handle on the lid is heat-resistant. The built-in thermometer is in the lid which allows you to keep an eye on the internal temperature of the smoker so that you can lower or raise the temperature of the coals for even cooking.

You can maintain the internal temperatures by using the two vents which are located in the bowl and lid of the smoker. Monitoring the internal temperature helps you use less charcoal and wood chips which saves you money in the long haul. When using your smoker you do need to make sure that you don’t lift the lid more than you need to as it cools down the coals and makes the internal temperature fluctuate hence requiring more fuel.

Large Enough For Crowds

The Weber Smokey Mountain is perfect for our family of four however we have been able to have our whole family of 26 over for a barbecue in the backyard as this smoker grill has two cooking grates which can hold either two turkeys or two large roasts – pretty much any type of meat you would need to serve a large crowd. When it is just us four, my husband will do a roast on one level and then do our veggies on the top level.

Because of the large door, accessing the firebox to add more charcoal or wood chips is easy. We have found that we usually start the smoker off with using briskets to get started and then adding the wood chunks or chips a bit later so that our food doesn’t become over-smoked.

The egg shaped smoker grill has a bottom basin that holds up to 2.5 gallons of water which means that your meat that you smoke stays moist and tender.

Using a smoker grill is for the patient person who truly enjoys the smokey flavour you get when using charcoal and wood chips. Often you can get your Smokey Mountain cooker started in the beginning of the day and then go about other daily tasks – you will need to plan your day around watching your smoker.

Easy Clean-Up

Once you have finished cooking on your smoker, clean up is easy. You just have to wash the cooker with soap and water – make sure that you don’t use any type of abrasive cleaner or scratch pad as it can scratch the paint. To make clean-up even easier, you can use tinfoil to line the water basin as well as the some type of vegetable spray on the grill grates so that food doesn’t stick and comes off easier.

What Is Included With The Smoker:

Two cooking grates – steel plated
Owners manual
Barbecue cover
Smoker grill

The Weber Smokey Mountain grill comes with a 10 year warranty which covers any type of rusting or damage to the grill with a two year warranty on any of the other grill parts.

Cons of the Weber Smoker

No grill is without complaints though this particular Weber grill has surprisingly few. Many others who have bought this grill have stated that their grill grates don’t fit into the smoker properly which seems to have been addressed as our smoker grill grates fit perfectly.

Where To Buy The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker

The Weber Smokey Mountain cooker that we ended up buying was about $299 when we bought it from Amazon – it also included free shipping which was a bonus. I have found that often Amazon has the best price when it comes to many products which proved true this time as well. With the free shipping it was a no brainer as we then didn’t have to wrestle the large box into our smaller car.

>>Add the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker To Your Amazon Shopping Cart Now<<

Best Smoker Grill: Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker