What lit your fire?

I got into bbq a couple years ago because bbq in Hampton Roads, VA area wasn't all that great. Built myself a mini, bought a couple kettles, and built myself a UDS.

I started a new position in the company I was in. My co-worker found out I made BBQ. He asked me every day for the better part of a month and a half. I finally broke down and said yes. He bullied me into our first competition which we completed a couple weeks ago at the VA BBQ Championship in Hampton, VA. It was a lot of fun, and I am going to compete again. Funds though are tight, so it won't be as often as I want it to be.
 
In the late 80's to early 90's my dad had an old ECB he smoked turkey breasts and pork butts on. Once I had some of that I had to get my own ECB and started smoking my own barbecue just for family and friends. A friend called one day and said they were having a barbecue contest and we were going to enter it. Neither of us had ever been to a contest, much less seen one on TV. In May 2001 we attended and competed in our first KCBS event; middle of the pack finish, but we sure had fun! The rest as they say is history; 195 contests and 13 years later. I judge more than I compete, but still enjoy doing both when the opportunity arises. Have met a lot of great folks and been a lot of places. Went from that first ECB to 1 18" WSM and then added another. Those moved out to each of my sons and now I have a 22" WSM.
 
Growing up in north Georgia, I had a grandfather who made great BBQ from pigs he raised. Once I got out on my own I discovered that I had relocated to a BBQ black hole in Northwest Georgia. The best BBQ in the area was just ok so I had to learn to make it myself if I was going to get BBQ like my grandfather made. For the next 20 years I was learning to do pulled pork and my best friend got into doing ribs. We both reached a point where folks kept telling us they loved our bbq so we started talking about competing but that's all we did. Figured we would just wait till we retired to actually do anything. Then someone organized a KCBS contest in my town and we figured we might as well give it a try. Did the backyard side and had a blast. We are now in our 3rd year of backyard and fixing to make the jump to pro.
 
Quite a few years ago I entered a local rib cookoff and cooked it with my daughter. I had a chance to meet some other local BBQers, and still see a couple of them at competitions around here.

That got me interested but I didn't do anything about it until Parrothead and MrB1984 asked me to join them in a KCBS competition. We had a blast and I think we got a call so we cooked three or four competitions a year until Parrothead opened a business and didn't have time, and MrB1984 was killed in a car crash.

I was planning on judging a few comps and visiting some of the local Brethren but my mentioned that she and I should cook as a team! That's was 2008 and we became Captain Ron's Brew-n-Que and we've been cooking together ever since.
 
Seen it on tv one day. Went to work the next day and asked a co-worker if he knew anything about it. He told me he was a judge. A few weeks later we did a backyard comp. I was hooked. Plus BBQ has great people all around.
 
I'd relocated here to the lake and was eating BBQ for lunch with a new friend; spring 2005. We were critiquing the food (wasn't bad, but not great), when he said "Hey, you want to judge? We have an MiM event coming to town in about 6 months... Oh, but you'll have to become certified.". Well, I did, and I did. I drew 2 categories that first competition; on-site shoulder and on-site ribs. It got to judge the DAL team and the GC team, on-site. I was hooked. I wanted to learn to cook like that, and I have along the way, and I enjoy competing as much as I enjoy judging.
 
wandered into a local contest that was part of a larger event, and asked how to get inside the judges tent next time they did one.

Took a KCBS judges class late the next February, (along with RonL) and judged about one and a half to two years, and then decided we could cook as well as a lot of what we were tasting as judges. That was 8 years ago I think?

Started competing in 08, although we have only ever done about half a dozen events per year. It's how we spend our vacation time (and money) and I wouldn't have it any other way!
 
Stoke&Smoke said:
wandered into a local contest that was part of a larger event, and asked how to get inside the judges tent next time they did one.

Took a KCBS judges class late the next February, (along with RonL) and judged about one and a half to two years, and then decided we could cook as well as a lot of what we were tasting as judges. That was 8 years ago I think?

Started competing in 08, although we have only ever done about half a dozen events per year. It's how we spend our vacation time (and money) and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Click to expand...

Looks like the trail I took also, but what really lit the fire is when we walked 5 times at the first comp with the last one to pick up the GC trophy.:shock:
 
I grew up in a household where my dad grilled a lot. Good grilling, not the best barbecue, though. About 7 years ago, I was barbecuing in my grill - not bad, but not great - still using techniques I'd learned growing up. My neighbor got one of those electric dorm-fridge-like smokers. It made me want to get something better, so I spent a lot of time on the internet and wound up getting a WSM. That and the techniques I learned online helped me make great 'que.

A few years later I was watching Pitmasters and decided to become a CBJ.
 
So funny…we were just talking about this the other day…

I met a guy Mike aka The Giggler through work. The hubby (Kevin aka Kevwah) then met him after he offered to smoke the entire office’s turkeys on his Klose pit around Christmas/New Year’s that year. Also met Mike’s wife Angela at the Company Christmas party. We all became great friends.

After the four of us enjoyed many nights and weekends on our bikes and eating great food he said to come and “hang out” at a contest in VT in '07, and by the way Kevin – I need you to cook your pork chops in the grilling contest. (We now know "hang out" at a BBQ comp is code - and have since learned to use that phrase to our advantage LOL) Things went wrong for us during that first ever entry - the fire was too hot, Kev almost electrocuted himself during turn ins. But awards made it worth it - 1st place pork chop!
Kev slept hugging the trophy on the drive home to Buffalo (we’ve got pics).

That was it. Done. All disposable income goes to BBQ now…
 
My uncle talked me into the Tulsa Hasty Bake competition. Got 3rd in smoked meat. Hooked. Starting steak competitions, got a gew calls, hooked. Just cooked my first BBQ, Bedford, TX, 4th in Chicken, hooked.
 
My friends and I would always go to the competitions, eat and have a good time. We always thought we could could better as amateur cooks. So we entered our first in 2009 for the Plant City Pig Jam. We were right across from Ray Lampe. We ended up winning the Grand Championship in the amateur division. Since then we have been hooked.
 
I started smoking ribs in the yard on a weber kettle about 8 or so years ago. We saw a local event in town with both a back yard and kcbs event. In 2009 I never handed in the app for the rib contest, in 2010 my kids forced me to, I took fourth out of 30 some teams, in 2011 while listening to the top 10 get announced after 2nd place my daughter turned to me and said you got this dad, I won it and a buddy of mine, not to be mentioned and his sister, fed me iced jack and told me I was hooked. I was, the following weekend cooked my first full KCBS comp, took 3rd overall and have been cooking about 5 or 6 comps a year. You meet great people and it totally takes me out of my element sitting at a desk.
 
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I received a smoker from my mother in law as a birthday present, 4 years ago, it sat in the box for almost a year, i finally used it, and i realized that i could make some decent stuff. I was reading Paul Kirk Championship BBQ book and found out that you can compete, then all heck broke loose. Started competing with my wife, and the rest is history.
 
It all started last year when my dad cooked me some ribs on a regular charcoal grill for my birthday. They were pretty good but was tough. So I got online and was reading how to cook ribs. I cooked a couple racks myself and I had a good time working my butt off. Flipping through the channels one day I stumbled across bbq pitmasters and I thought to myself that looks like fun and I could do that... entered my first backyard competition in April and finished first in ribs, third in chicken and finished second overall! Im definitely hooked and have competed twice since then with another first place trophy in ribs!
 
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