Is it Time to Buy a New Smoker?

If you are new to smoking or on a budget you should aim towards a lower priced smoker. These units have all the variety but no the big price tags. Any one of these would be good to start out with. If you don't think you have the patience to tend a fire then choose a gas or electric smoker that will meet your needs. If you really get hooked on barbecue then you can always buy a bigger and better smoker later, but these units are the best in their price range.

If you have the cash to spend, these are the best smokers on the market. Prices can easily go well over $1,000 but you will get the ability to smoke lots of food at once and have the best equipment to do it with. These units represent the full range of smokers from electric to hardwood so you can find a smoker that not only meets your needs but also you desire to tend fires. Many of these units are used on the competition circuits to make award winning barbecue.

Barbecue purists tend to turn up their noses at gas-powered smokers. I don't believe that this is because they cannot turn out great smoked foods, but because there are too many poorly designed and basically cheap gas smokers on the market. I have put together this list of the 10 best gas smokers for sale today for those who want a simple and easy to operate smoker but don't want to be tied to an extension cord.

Smokers are amongst the most diverse products you can buy. Partly because of the number of fuels or energy sources they can use and partly because smoking can mean anything from traditional barbecue cooked around 225 degrees F to cold smoking for things like fish, cheese or jerky that can be done as low or lower than 60 degrees F. Most electric smokers try to do it all and this can be their strength or their weakness. The great strength, however, of a good electric smoker is its automation. Most good, and generally more expensive, electric smokers let you select a temperature, and even a time and you load it up and turn it on. They are nearly as easy to use as a microwave.