Grill Maestro

Yeah yeah, I realize I wrote the first part of the Smokenator review last October and since then, while I haven’t used the Smokenator since that one time due to weather, time, etc.; my impressions of it are still the same.

The Smokenator itself is very professionally made and of sturdy construction, not some shoddy piece of metal that you might find from other “corporate” sources (who have the resources to build these things for as little as possible), so if you’re concerned that the Smokenator, despite being made by a lone individual, is cheap - don’t be. Don’t let the price fool you, this is a quality piece of grilling equipment.

The beauty of the Smokenator is that it builds onto your existing grill, which means you don’t have to store the smoker when you’re not using it. Sure, for the same price you can buy a bargain basement smoker but you’ll have to store it when you’re not using it. With the Smokenator, you don’t have that much to store and you get basically an entire smoking guide - something I doubt that corporate smoker is going to give you.

Don was kind enough to send along a hovergrill as well… if you get the Smokenator, get the hovergrill! That is a must, what happens is that the smokenator itself will take up a big piece of real estate (look at the pictures) and since you’ll be putting in some serious time (a few hours), you probably want to increase your cooking area and for ten bucks that’s not a bad deal. When I smoked, I did not use the hovergrill though I kind of regret it since I did spend so much time.

Now, I’ve never smoked anything before, with a smoker or otherwise, and so the instruction manual was a big help in explaining the basic principles of smoking. The slick thing about the Smokenator, which is something that might come with other smokers, I don’t know; is that it comes with this water tray that helps you manage the temperature and moisten up the smoke. I’ve heard people putting apple juice in the little tray to impart a little apple flavor (I’m going to try that next) but the water is mostly there to help regulate the temperature so that you don’t smoke at too high a temperature and dry out your meat. Smoking tip of the day is that you need to check this every half hour because if you don’t, the temperature will jump and your food will get too dry. If the pan dries up, don’t worry (it happened to me), just fill it up with some more water and it’ll be okay… just don’t leave it empty for a long time.

Overall, I had a great experience with the Smokenator and definitely recommend it for people who have a Weber and are looking to give smoking a try. One caveat I would add is that I’ve never used anything else so I don’t know what features another smoker, a full one, could offer that the Smokenator doesn’t. In looking at the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, the only real feature I can see that the Smokenator doesn’t really have is a way to access the coals as easily as the cooker, though at $200 it’s an expensive feature! (with the Smokenator, you can lift up the water pan and that opening is sufficient to access the coals (and you can drop wood chips through the holes).