TXNewbie
Full Fledged Farker
Hi Guys,
I've been a longtime lurker here reading the many posts and enjoying a wealth of knowledge you all have.
I've always been a gas-weber kinda guy, but never really impressed with the taste of gas. Honestly, I do much better on my cast iron skillets on my gas stove top.
For my birthday I got an Amazon gift card, and decided to buy myself a Weber Kettle - my first foray into charcoal. And the obsession soon began.
Over several months I bought a slow n/ sear, learned how to understand and adjust grill temp, began to understand the differences between lump charcoal and briquettes, learned how to start to plan how much charcoal to light relative to what I am trying to do, etc. etc.
At first results were pretty frustrating, but after watching you tube vids, reading books by MeatHead, Tuffy Stone, Aaron Franklin, Myron Mixon, etc. and practicing and experimenting, I began to get the hang of it. AND LOVE IT!!
I then got a PBC and did my first brisket, then ribs, then chicken breast. The revelations was as giant as the initial jump from gas to charcoal. It was great!! I've made hundreds of chicken breasts and the ones I did on the PBC were BY FAR the most render, juicy and flavorful I had ever made. But alas, I wanted bigger.
I obsessed on Pit Wars TV and Pit Masters and wanted a Jambo stick burner really bad. But the experience I'd had with my PBC taught me two very important things: 1) I want a more simple set up and don't want to be constantly tending to fire; and 2) I also don't want to spend $20 in wood every time I fire up the smoker (or have to store it).
So, my OCD being what it is, I sold off some items this weekend and it culminated with selling my Weber gas grill. I sold it in 3 hours and got $700 for it when I paid like $1100 for it 5 years ago. It was now complete.
So I recently repeated read every relevant thread on this forum I could find, again watched you tube, read review after review after review after review and decided on what I wanted. Then I changed my mind about 5 more times.
So I reached out to Jambo (for their backyard model). I know it's a stick burner, but I still wanted to own a Jambo and wanted to get more info. I left a message I was looking to purchase a smoker within 48 hours and would they please call me back. Never got a return call or anything.
I also reached out to Humphrey's (Pint or Qube'd), Myron Mixon G9, and LSG (originally the Mini).
Humphrey's was prompt in their response and answered all my questions - nice to deal with.
MM (the sales department) was incredibly professional, responsive, and down to earth. Ended up being the lease expensive of the three. There were two reasons I ultimately didn't go with the MM - 1) capacity (it was the smallest); and 2) It doesn't seem anyone really owns them (other than the big competition ones) and I was concerned how long might they be around for support. But it was a VERY compelling product very aggressively priced. If I had extra money, I would actually buy it as a second one in a heartbeat.
Then came to LSG. After reading the forums and watching the video's, I felt as though Chris was very dedicated to customer support, but also was very dedicated to continuous improvement of his products. That was very important to me.
I spoke with Chris and he was SO incredibly helpful, patient, and knowledgable. After pricing out the Mini with the extra racks, spaces, etc. I ended up going with the large as it wasn't that much more. It killed me to have to pay tax and shipping (shipping from Houston to me in Texas was actually the same as from MM in Connecticut). But for my needs, wants and desires I felt it was the best product, best feature set, and incredible customer support.
I ended up with:
So alas, my 8 week wait begins. And a great "thank you" the members here on this forum for all their wisdom, and to Chris for being an exceptional business to deal with so far.
I've been a longtime lurker here reading the many posts and enjoying a wealth of knowledge you all have.
I've always been a gas-weber kinda guy, but never really impressed with the taste of gas. Honestly, I do much better on my cast iron skillets on my gas stove top.
For my birthday I got an Amazon gift card, and decided to buy myself a Weber Kettle - my first foray into charcoal. And the obsession soon began.
Over several months I bought a slow n/ sear, learned how to understand and adjust grill temp, began to understand the differences between lump charcoal and briquettes, learned how to start to plan how much charcoal to light relative to what I am trying to do, etc. etc.
At first results were pretty frustrating, but after watching you tube vids, reading books by MeatHead, Tuffy Stone, Aaron Franklin, Myron Mixon, etc. and practicing and experimenting, I began to get the hang of it. AND LOVE IT!!
I then got a PBC and did my first brisket, then ribs, then chicken breast. The revelations was as giant as the initial jump from gas to charcoal. It was great!! I've made hundreds of chicken breasts and the ones I did on the PBC were BY FAR the most render, juicy and flavorful I had ever made. But alas, I wanted bigger.
I obsessed on Pit Wars TV and Pit Masters and wanted a Jambo stick burner really bad. But the experience I'd had with my PBC taught me two very important things: 1) I want a more simple set up and don't want to be constantly tending to fire; and 2) I also don't want to spend $20 in wood every time I fire up the smoker (or have to store it).
So, my OCD being what it is, I sold off some items this weekend and it culminated with selling my Weber gas grill. I sold it in 3 hours and got $700 for it when I paid like $1100 for it 5 years ago. It was now complete.
So I recently repeated read every relevant thread on this forum I could find, again watched you tube, read review after review after review after review and decided on what I wanted. Then I changed my mind about 5 more times.
So I reached out to Jambo (for their backyard model). I know it's a stick burner, but I still wanted to own a Jambo and wanted to get more info. I left a message I was looking to purchase a smoker within 48 hours and would they please call me back. Never got a return call or anything.
I also reached out to Humphrey's (Pint or Qube'd), Myron Mixon G9, and LSG (originally the Mini).
Humphrey's was prompt in their response and answered all my questions - nice to deal with.
MM (the sales department) was incredibly professional, responsive, and down to earth. Ended up being the lease expensive of the three. There were two reasons I ultimately didn't go with the MM - 1) capacity (it was the smallest); and 2) It doesn't seem anyone really owns them (other than the big competition ones) and I was concerned how long might they be around for support. But it was a VERY compelling product very aggressively priced. If I had extra money, I would actually buy it as a second one in a heartbeat.
Then came to LSG. After reading the forums and watching the video's, I felt as though Chris was very dedicated to customer support, but also was very dedicated to continuous improvement of his products. That was very important to me.
I spoke with Chris and he was SO incredibly helpful, patient, and knowledgable. After pricing out the Mini with the extra racks, spaces, etc. I ended up going with the large as it wasn't that much more. It killed me to have to pay tax and shipping (shipping from Houston to me in Texas was actually the same as from MM in Connecticut). But for my needs, wants and desires I felt it was the best product, best feature set, and incredible customer support.
I ended up with:
- Large vertical
- Extra shelf spots
- 1 extra shelf
- Heat diverter
- T-plates (same price for me as if I bought fire bricks anywhere around me)
- Handle
- 8" wheels (my wife and I are going to have to push it up our sloped driveway when it gets delivered so I figured we needed every advantage we could get)
- I wanted the purple in his video but just couldn't justify the cost. That is one thing I liked about Humprey's - is the color choices at no charge.
So alas, my 8 week wait begins. And a great "thank you" the members here on this forum for all their wisdom, and to Chris for being an exceptional business to deal with so far.
