104timberwolf
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
- Location
- Montgome...
I’m a home cook. I’ve never cooked professionally or competed. I’ve cooked for 30 years on everything from a tabletop hibachi (remember those?) to Walmart gas grills and water smokers to ceramic grills to offset firebox smokers.
The investment in my Assassin GF17 this summer did not come easy or without a lot of study. At $2500 without controller and before shipping, it represented a significant investment for a backyard weekend cook.
First impression; this thing is built like a tank. Even at 375 pounds and roughly the size of a small refrigerator, it rolls and is easily maneuvered on its casters. Assassin incorporates many nice design touches
in this smoker, down to the thick piece of felt to prevent metal on metal contact when the charcoal chute door is opened.
The charcoal chute holds one 16 pound bag of Kingsford charcoal. I used their pecan charcoal last night. Two Royal Oak tumbleweeds and a couple of minutes with a small propane torch and the fire was started. I closed everything up and set the DynaQ pit temperature at 235 degrees. The controller had the pit up to temperature within 30 minutes. One of the three shelves easily held a hotel pan with 2 butts with a combined weight of 23 pounds.
I added four big chunks of pecan wood to the firebox before I went to bed. My biggest concern was my previous experiences with the thick acrid smoke I’d get from having used sealed cookers in the past. This was absolutely not a problem with the Assassin. It produced a very light blue smoke, similar to what I’m used to with a stick burner. I tried to capture the smoke coming out of the stack in the third photo but it’s barely visible.
I woke up a few times last night to look at my phone. The BBQ Guru app had the pit at +/- one degree of 235 all night. I cranked up the temperature to 250 early this morning for a total cook time of 18 hours. There is still charcoal left in the chute.
Time will tell as to the long term durability of this smoker but I’m pretty obsessive about cleaning and storing my stuff so I’m expecting many years out of this great cooker.
The investment in my Assassin GF17 this summer did not come easy or without a lot of study. At $2500 without controller and before shipping, it represented a significant investment for a backyard weekend cook.
First impression; this thing is built like a tank. Even at 375 pounds and roughly the size of a small refrigerator, it rolls and is easily maneuvered on its casters. Assassin incorporates many nice design touches
in this smoker, down to the thick piece of felt to prevent metal on metal contact when the charcoal chute door is opened.
The charcoal chute holds one 16 pound bag of Kingsford charcoal. I used their pecan charcoal last night. Two Royal Oak tumbleweeds and a couple of minutes with a small propane torch and the fire was started. I closed everything up and set the DynaQ pit temperature at 235 degrees. The controller had the pit up to temperature within 30 minutes. One of the three shelves easily held a hotel pan with 2 butts with a combined weight of 23 pounds.
I added four big chunks of pecan wood to the firebox before I went to bed. My biggest concern was my previous experiences with the thick acrid smoke I’d get from having used sealed cookers in the past. This was absolutely not a problem with the Assassin. It produced a very light blue smoke, similar to what I’m used to with a stick burner. I tried to capture the smoke coming out of the stack in the third photo but it’s barely visible.
I woke up a few times last night to look at my phone. The BBQ Guru app had the pit at +/- one degree of 235 all night. I cranked up the temperature to 250 early this morning for a total cook time of 18 hours. There is still charcoal left in the chute.
Time will tell as to the long term durability of this smoker but I’m pretty obsessive about cleaning and storing my stuff so I’m expecting many years out of this great cooker.
Last edited:
