Backwoods Party or other suggestions

The built quality of my particular backwoods was not great- it was built fast and it shows.

Thank you for your service .

Prestige World Wide said:

Thanks for the great replies so far. Has anyone used a BBQ guru on the WSM? Is it required for an overnight brisket smoke?
Also, what kind of meat capacity have you been successful with?

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I run my 22 WSM with and without BBQ GURU. WSM is really steady when corredtly sealed and gunked.
I don't ever use original water pan wich has been replaced by the pizza stone. A really small disposable water pan is settled over the pizza stone. But I'm thinking to cut off water.
BUT, with the Bbq Guru you will completely forget the WSM ror up to 18 hours long cook.
T will range +- 5 F. No more.
I repeat: WSM should be gunked and sealed good to get the above steadyness.

ive ran a wsm in -30, no need to worry about the "cold weather" in florida.

thesemicullen said:

there are a lot of insulation/windbreak options for a WSM including things like heat-resistant thermal wraps and plywood enclosures..

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My thoughts exactly. We used to use an old Weber smoker in Iowa before the WSM model, when it got real cold we used a big cardboard box over the smoker to help insulate and stop wind. While also keeping it in a semi covered area. Worked like a charm and it was cheap.

grantw said:

The built quality of my particular backwoods was not great- it was built fast and it shows.

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I learned this a few years back. I really wanted one and found a dealer in a tiny town where we have one of our banks. Made an excuse to go and fix something at that branch and looked at the Backwoods they had on hand. They were all very light and not 100% welded. The dealer told me they were not airtight by design. The one they had been using for a few years was rusted pretty bad but I think they fixed that when they switched to something they told me was called galvalume. I would look at the size of cookers you are considering and see how they compare in weight. That will tell you a lot about how thick the metal is and how much longer one should last than the other.

I used one of the origional wsm for a few years. As others have said you can get it to work real well, but it won't straight out of the box. You need to get some seals for the top lid and the fire box lid. Once you do that it works 50x better. Now the one I had was the small one, and I did have issues putting larger cuts of meat on it.

I upgraded to a Humphrey's Battlebox last spring and have been very happy with it. That said, I don't move it around too much. Plenty of people take them to competitions, but they are too heavy for a single person to handle moving into a truck (3-4 would be able to do it without problems, or just 1 if you have a good long ramp that can handle 600lbs (I say 600 because you will also be on the ramp))

Prestige World Wide said:

I am looking to buy a new smoker and looking at the original party model. I am only doing home cooks, no catering or competitions. Just weekend cooks because I love to smoke and grill. Every now and then I will cook for a large crowd (~30 people) so I want a decent amount of capacity. My favorite is a whole packer brisket so I need to be able to fit that. I am also military so I am moving every few years and don't want something I can't move around too much. I may not always have an ideal set up for a permanent smoker placement at different locations.

Of course price is a big factor as well.

What are some suggestions from the experience here? Thanks for the help.

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Party is great. Very well priced vs capacity and it has a small footprint. Also look at a Fatboy. Both very portable. Also, Thank you for your service.

Give Gateway Drum Smokers a look. They hold a ton for their size, are easy to move, the weather doesn't bother them, will lock onto a temperature for hours, and look great doing it.