270 Smoker First Impressions w/Pr0n

Been thinking about purchasing an insulated cabinet smoker for quite awhile, and been researching lots of good options. Wife turned out to be surprisingly agreeable. Hardest part has been getting over the mental hurdle of spending the equivalent of a couple of WSM's just for shipping on many of these. So I turned my search local and found something interesting: 270 Smokers, which claims a patented "Heated Draft" system for even heat/smoke distribution in the cooking chamber. After exchanging some emails with Terry at 270, Eric at Mason Dixon BBQ Services (with a new location in Frederick, MD), and some brethren here, made the trip to Frederick this AM to take a closer look.

Mark at Mason Dixon (well worth the drive for you DC locals -- saw Meadow Creek and Backwoods there as well) walked me through it, and it was clear the 270 Standard model would meet my requirements perfectly -- amongst these capacity, year-round use, and ease of use with long burn times and rock solid stable temps. 270 Smokers is fairly new, regional (currently), and "heated draft" is a bit different, but I was convinced to take the plunge for several reasons: it meets all my requirements, 270 users seem pretty darn happy with these things, they're built like a tank, customer service from both 270 and Mason Dixon has been excellent -- I KNOW any questions I have will be answered, the price point is excellent and I don't have to pay the equivalent of a couple of WSM's in shipping -- brought it home in my minivan.

Here it is. Been trying to figure out what the shape reminds me of. I'm thinking its the Shuttle Galileo from the original Star Trek.



The inside -- I ordered two more shelves -- there are slots for six total. The "heated draft" seems to be due to the shape and the smoke entering the chamber from the front slot -- you can see the firebox through the slot. The reversible chimney cap can also be used for direct exhaust or reverse flow, forcing more smoke to re-enter the bottom.



Huge firebox -- I barely covered the bottom for my first cook and it lasted for 4+ hours with some coals left unburnt.



This little slide vent is your entire thermal control. I easily controlled temps between 240 and 300. Once set and the temp settles, it just plain doesn't move. Will take more cooks before I decide whether a Guru even makes sense for me.



First cook. All Virginia theme (nod to Boshizzle). 270 Smokers is located in Lexington, VA. The chickens come from a farm of some renown (Omnivore's Dilemma and Food, Inc.) in the Shenandoah Valley, and the sauce is Griffin's Red. Pitmaster is also in VA -- just ignore that "Illini" in my moniker for now. Chicken was excellent.




First impressions:

1) Very easy to control temp. Once you set the vent, it just stays at the corresponding temp until you open the cook chamber or change the vent setting. I started at 240 then easily took it up to 300 for chicken.

2) Came up to cooking temp very quickly. I was at 255 within 22 minutes from dumping a half chimney of lit lump on the unlit coals in my firebox.

3) Recovery times were equally good. Temps were back up typically within 3-5 minutes in a relatively empty cooker. That may change with full loads of meat and a water pan.

4) No discernable leaks. Only visible smoke was coming out the chimney.

5) Center of gravity is good for moving, but would be nice to have some front wheels. Not going to be a big deal once it moves to my patio (which currently doesn't exist), but for now a minor pain to roll around.

I have a lot more to learn about this cooker, but so far works great.

HarrynVegas said:

cost??

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Prices here: http://www.270smokers.com/index.php/blog/

toymaster said:

Looks like one of the robots in the movie "Silent Running". Their names were Huey, Dewey, and Louie. I would like to see a little more info on how they work. What is a reversible chimney cap?

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Huey, Dewey, and Louie also came to mind. I think if you owned three of their Mini models you could do an early '70's sci--fi film.

There's a reversible dual chimney at the top and the cap covers whichever of these you choose. When firing up you leave the cap off to maximize flow and get the temp up. One of the chimneys vents directly from the fire-box with the heat and residual smoke traveling up the back wall which is angled. If you cap that one and open the other, it vents from the cooking chamber. I believe the latter is intended to force more smoke over the meat.

hogzillas said:

Looks nice - what's the spacing between the shelves 3" or 4"? Also what kind of weight are we talking about? Easily moved by 1 person maybe using a dolly or something along those lines for a contest?

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I'll measure the spacing and get back to you, but it's in that ballpark. I believe the weight is around 270 lbs. Read that on their Facebook page. 270 corresponds to the owner's last name (direction on a compass rose -- West). Also happens to be the weight and, as I was told by Mark at Mason-Dixon (a comp guy who uses these), the temp it likes to settle at.

It has handles welded onto the back with good size casters. One person can easily move it on the ground. Getting it on/off a trailer or back of a truck (or minivan in my case) is another question.

grantw said:

Kind of a strange design, looks like the fire box feeds through the bottom and the chimney vents out the bottom too?

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Dual chimney out the top with reversible cap. It is a different design, but the engineer in me could see how it is set up to create large, convecting vortices which are always good for rapid mixing and even distribution (recovering fluid dynamicist here). I almost want to set up a Computational Fluid Dynamics Model to figure it out. Almost. Or I could use that time experimenting with food.

jeffry1970 said:

Are all of the racks the same size?

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Yes, all racks are the same size. In the Standard, they can hold a full size steam table pan, but you will be restricting air flow if you actually use such pans on every shelf.

Here's a closer look at the dual chimney with reversible cap. Currently set up to vent from the cooking chamber. Oh...and this also shows the handles for moving it around. Just tip it back (NOT loaded or burning) and roll like you would a hand-truck.