Cuisinart 36” Vertical Propane Smoker, 4 Removable Racks, Spacious BBQ Smoker with Wood and Water Trays, 15,000 BTU Heat for Smoked Meat, Brisket, Jerky, Fish, Perfect for Tailgates, Backyard, Camping

Frustrating well packaged. No shipping damage what-so-ever. Have used it four times with excellent results. It took a bit to get the temp control dialed in but it held within a couple of degrees. The only thing I added was some foam gasket seal around both doors since there was some smoke, and probably heat, escaping.(On Amazon - Fireblack® Hi Temp BBQ Smoker Gasket Self Stick 15 ft High Heat 1/2 x 1/8 Black) I also made a wheeled frame for it to facilitate moving it around.Just a little add on - The Winco SPH2 44198 Size Pan 2 1/2" (NSF), Stainless Steel, Medium fits perfectly to use as a larger water pan. The larger volume of water also helps to stabilize temperature fluctuations.

I'm new to smoking food. I have used my Weber propane grill to smoke a little bit, but I wanted a "real" smoker. I decided to go with propane since it seemed like there would be less work to maintain the temperature and smoke. Assembly was very easy and instructions were clear and easy to follow. I did go out and buy a set of four locking casters to install on the bottom of the legs. I did have to drill holes through the bottom of the feet to attach the casters. Smoker is heavy, so having locking wheels is a must since I will store this in my shed when not in use. Before my first use, I decided I should season the smoker. I was surprised that the manufacturer did not have any mention in the manual about seasoning the smoker. I found a lot of online recommendations for doing this and figured it would be worth it, plus I could get use to the temperature adjustments without risking any food... I wiped down the interior of the smoker with a lite coat of canola oil and filled the wood tray with dry apple would chips. I started the burner (first click on the igniter!) and let the smoker go on high for about two hours. It took about 15 min for the wood chips to start smoking. I also noticed quite a bit of smoke coming out of the edges on the main door, so I ordered some grill gasket tape, which I will install next week. The next day I smoked a pork shoulder for over 12 hours and some sausage links for about two hours. Both turned out perfect. I'll never have crock-pot pulled pork again.... The temperature was easy to maintain and having the separate door to add additional wood chips definitely helped maintain the temperature. I would highly recommend this smoker to any beginner. It will be interesting to see if the door gasket will help, not completely sure it's 100% necessary, but others have recommended it so we will see. One other thing, which is no surprise, the thermometer on the door was not very accurate. I used the NutriChef (PWIRBBQ80) (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076B36HF9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Bluetooth thermometer and monitored the temperature of the pork shoulder and the smoke chamber. Definitely a must have. Now I cant wait to use this more. Beef ribs are next!**Updated: Sept 24th 2020**After one full summer of smoking, I can honestly say that I love the food I have made with this smoker (and so does my neighbor). I have burned through at least a dozen propane tanks. I've smoked everything from salmon, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, including eggplant for baba ghanoush, and even made my own chipotles and smoked cayenne peppers, which were awesome is my smoked cast-iron baked beans... My Bluetooth thermometer also held up all season. The smoker has held up well, there's a small brisket flat on there now. There is one burn spot on the outside rear of the smoker where the burner is, but has not hurt the integrity of the smoker box. I keep the smoker covered when not in use. The door gasket tape was a must and has definitely helped contain the smoke in the smoker. I used the "FireBlack Hi Temp BBQ Smoker Gasket Self Stick 15 ft High Heat 1/2 x 1/8 Black", from Amazon, which fit both doors perfectly. I think this is a pretty standard upgrade for any smoker, based on all the reviews I've read. I agree with a lot of the reviews about the poorly designed wood/water tray. I do not put water in the water/wood chip tray, I use disposable aluminum trays for the water on the bottom shelf and overload the wood chip tray with one or two larger wood chunks and a bunch of presoaked wood chips. I have not had any problems with not having enough smoke. I have not wanted for more shelves, but do think I will be upgrading to a larger smoker at some point, so I can fit full slabs of ribs and full briskets (just need the wife's permission). The shelves are a little too small for this (14 x 14 inches), so ribs have to be cut in half and it only fits smaller cuts of brisket. But as an intro to smoking, this was a huge success. I also built a cedar cabinet with a cement countertop to go with this smoker, that provides much needed counter space and storage for the propane tank, wood chips, and trays (picture attached). If you are thinking of trying out a smoker, as a beginner, I think this smoker is a good bet. It made me a smoking addict.

We had this for a few years. It is a good starter or back up smoker. It does what it is intended to due. Sometimes the door does not want to stay shut we rigged so it does. Important to clean it. We cooked allot in this, Cook tri tip, chicken breast and Salmon, whole garlic wrapped up too makes a nice big family meal.

The smoker works great and food is always cooked well

One of the best smokers I’ve ever used

I read dozens of reviews and found the 2 consistent issues with any smoker on the market; thermometer accuracy and smoke production without flareups. So lets talk about this unit concerning these issues. I purchased the propane COS-244.Temperature control: I took a trusted thermometer and checked several temperatures in my house oven to verify the calibration and then fired up the smoker. When the thermometer was on the top rack near the door thermometer, they agreed within 5 degrees. The best I could get out of this unit in the default configuration was 210F. However, as soon as I moved that thermometer towards the center where the meat would realistically reside, it easily reached 260F with nothing else changed on the unit. I ran test with various gas valve settings damper positions and thermometer positions door, middle and back of the top rack. In every case I could achieve at least 200F and a top temperature of 325F with the position of the thermometer being the biggest variable. During my actual first production run of 2 ea 8lb pork shoulders set on the 2 middle racks, the only time I had to fiddle with the gas valve setting was right after adding water or wood chips. After 15 min on high, I had to dial it back to 25% to hold 230F (as indicated on my thermometer centered on the top rack) on a 60F day. 12 hours later, the meat was perfect. I spent about 4 hours experimenting with the unit before ever attempting the first piece of meat.Smoke production: I used DRY hickory and apple wood chunks plastered on the entire, dry, chip tray with cherry chips filling the gaps. I used the tray like a baking sheet vs the little circle that they suggested the wood should be placed. Within 10 min I had tons of smoke (damper 25% open). This setup lasted about 2 hours before the smoke died off with the gas valve at 25% to hold my cooking temp. I used the included auxiliary water tray on the lowest rack with nothing but water in it and it too lasted about 2 hours and still had some water in it. After 6 hours and 2 refills, I had no flareups and medium heavy smoke production.So in the end, I definitely recommend this unit. In the stock configuration it performs as advertised, you just have to read between the lines when it comes to the actual setup come grilling time. If you want to trust the door thermometer, remember, it is out of the heat flow path so it will read a lot lower than the center o the unit where the work is really happening. In my experiment and test runs, I was seeing a consistent 30F less on the door thermometer than the known oven thermometer centered on the top rack. When you get the unit, please run some tests using a trusted thermometer before ruining a piece of meat or trash talking this, or any unit. One more tip, put some foil in the water pan, it's terrible to clean if you let the drippings caramelize in it.