Wow, lots of diverse stories. I'm game.
So my dear, lovely wife and I were sitting around with our 6 month old (the first) watching some tv, surfin some web on a cold November night. I'm guessing it was my son's favorite Louis Armstrong video on the tubeless screen. Out of nowhere, and she can't recall why now, my wife said, "what do you think about getting a smoker?" At the time, BBQ to me meant grilling burgers and brats on fluid lit coals, but at least I did have the sense to have a 22" OTG. I'd never even eaten brisket...couldn't tell you a darn thing about it. I summarily dismissed the idea after a quick web search led me to super expensive (seemingly at the time) electric Bradley smokers.
About a week passes and curiosity has gotten the better of me. I land on this site and a couple others and decide the Smokenator looks like a good way to get started. I order one up and decide to try smoking the first time in the dead of winter...on a kettle...with a Smokenator. Yes, it was an outstanding failure, but by then it was too late. I had to figure this stuff out.
Now it's been 3.5 years and I've been down the UDS route (later donated to a friend), replaced with a Stumps, built a mini wsm, got a stupidly good deal on a 18" WSM and what am I smoking the most on? You guessed it, that original 22" OTG that's now mounted in a stainless table. It's amazing what you can cook on once you know how to handle your fire.
Thanks to everyone here for being enablers on this journey.
