Picked up an Ole Hickory CTO - have a few questions...

[unixadm]

Howdy,

I recently purchased a 2009 Southern Pride SP-1000 on a factory 14' tandem trailer and am in the process of freshening it up. I also purchased a 2007 Ole Hickory CTO with Stationary Racks and the Cook/Hold option. It's been used but the previous owner took absolutely great care of this thing. The racks and aluminum items inside of the cooking chamber looked brand new when I got it. I also got a couple rib racks with it as well and some extra convection fan blades. I think I did pretty good for $2500. I'll get some pics in a new post of both cookers once I get them both finished and cleaned up. I called up Kevin at OHP today and ordered the comp basket, door bump stops and the updated side mount handles. I'm going to create my own comp switch and install it this weekend.

So with that said, I put the CTO through a trial run yesterday with lump charcoal and some wood. I noticed it put off some pretty thick smoke. Today I tossed a couple of smaller splits into the basket without any charcoal and again noticed a real heavy smoke. Set temps were around 230-240 for both test runs. Burner is putting out a solid blue flame and is reaching the charcoal basket without any issues. Is this normal or are there some tips and tricks to get a nice TBS on this thing?

It's funny that the CTO when photographed without a reference item in the background doesn't look very big. However in person, it's a sizable pit. I had an Assassin 28 and this thing is comparable in size.

Any tips or tricks would be great.

One call out I have to make. I have talked to both Ole Hickory Pits and Southern Pride during the past few days. Southern Pride almost seemed bothered that I wanted to buy parts from them. OHP on the other hand was very friendly and helpful. Kevin took my order and then I asked a couple of tech questions and he made sure to answer my questions and give me his input based on his experience. I have heard OHP has better customer service and I have to say that I agree. I got what I needed from both companies, but the vibe from OHP was a lot better. Sad that my SP was probably $30k new versus the $4500 the CTO ran back in 2007.

 

[PaPaQ]

What you are describing about the smoke on your CTO is the same smoke I have on mine. Think of it as a smoldering fire, when your burner is off the wood and charcoal is starving for O2 which in return means heavy smoke. What I do is smoke the meat halfway thru the cook, butts maybe a little more and briskets a little less. One trick I have learned is do not put the basket in until after the meat is in and the pit has come up to temp and cycle off. Other than that you should be good to go. You are correct about their customer service they are top notch.:thumb:

 

[PaPaQ]

I found a couple of pics of my basket setup with pecan wood for a butt cook, hope it will help.

 

[unixadm]

Thanks for the pics and info. I'm going through the CTO right now, cleaning it up and fixing a few little issues. I have some parts on the way so once I get everything squared away I'll fire it up and cook some meat to see what happens.