Vertical Propane Smoker with Temperature & Smoke Control

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.

This is a nice smoker with a fairly compact footprint. Great for small patios or decks. It was very easy to assemble taking me less than 1 hour to put it together. It comes with a water pan with a circular wood chip holder in the middle. The pan sits in rails above the burner. A space saving design with a drawback. The pan holds small amounts of chips and water. So I found myself constantly going into the firebox to add water and chips. Also the lack of a drip pan means that drippings fall onto the chips. Enough drippings fall into the wood chip pan extinguishing the smoke. I used it for the first time to smoke a trimmed off brisket flat on one shelf. The point, for burnt ends, on another shelf and a rack of ribs on the third shelf. It was an 9 hour cook in total. Setting the burner dial down to 1/4 off the lowest setting held the temp at 275 F. A good amount of smoke was produced after 15 minutes. The smoke lasted 20 minutes tops and the temperature was creeping up. When I opened the firebox, the water had evaporated and the wood chips burned down too fast. After that I found myself in and out of the firebox every 30 minutes. Which was a pain because I also had a grill going with other stuff. One of my fellow reviewers suggested using the extra water pan and placing it on the lowest shelf, and using the combo pan for wood chips. Great suggestion, but the extra water pan I find too shallow so I'll be using a foil tray as a drip/water pan. The combo pan will be used for wood chips as suggested. As to the end result of the smoke; everyone raved about the smokiness and taste of the brisket, burnt ends, and ribs. So the Cuisinart cos-244 did its job. I will update this review after my next smoke using the foil tray as a water/drip pan. UPDATE: I smoked 12 pork chops on my next cook. I used the water/chip tray as strictly a chip tray. I used a small foil pan as a drip/water tray. The smoker maintained 275F during the 2 hour cook. Plenty of consistent smoke was produced with less opening of the doors to replenish the chips or water. At the end of the cook when the chops hit 140F, there was plenty of chips and water left. The chops had great color and were moist. Update 07/24/19: Had two more cooks in this smoker; babyback ribs, pork shoulder, flank steak and top rump roast. I used the included water/drip pan both times. I found that in a 4 hour smoke I had to fill it twice. Maintaining the temperature was not bad. Though there is a some smoke leakage top the top sides. I'm considering sealing the top with Lava lock sealant. So far so good. The meat is juicy and smokey. I've had nothing but compliments about the meat that comes out of that smoker. I am very happy with it.

First, this is a well built, easy to assemble smoker, that is quite efficient on propane use. I've smoked 3 picnic roasts, one Boston butt (all served as pulled pork) 4 whole chickens, numerous racks of ribs, two batches of smoked wings, and a Brisket. All were excellent except the brisket that I'm sure was my issue not the Smoker. The learning curve comes in controlling the heat, the amount of water in the chip pan and the flame (temp knob). The first thing you do after you put this in your Cart is GO BUY A GOOD DIGITAL BBQ Thermometer. When you get it set up, set the flame at its LOWEST setting, add your chips and NO water in the chip tray. I find that 9 out of ten times I can hold 225-230 just fine as is, with good smoke production. If you find yourself creeping up on Temp, open the lower door and add cold water about 1.5 cups at time to get your temp back where you want it. 2nd pro tip, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR unless you absolutely have too. It takes a bit of practice, (start with chicken, it seems to be the most forgiving) and learn the zen art of smoking. For the price, and if you are in the market for a propane smoker, I think you'll be pleased with this unit. It's got decent temp control, plenty of space, is efficient, and for the price I dont think can be beat. Rating it as 4 starts because I have not tried any lower temp smoking, (salmon), not true cold smoking, but lower temp smoking, Going to give this a try and if works, will update rating and review.

Good build and amazing smoker, only issue is the the burner can't go to low flame hence the water burns out too quickly have to keep refilling

Very happy. I gave this a workout the day after I received it to test it out, and am going to use it again over the weekend. Assembly was easy, however, to tighten the vent damper in the back of the unit, I used a socket wrench with an extension because my arms are not long enough to hold the screw driver while reaching around and through the cabinet to hold the nut while centering the damper over the special nuts. And, it will be easier if you have someone hold the burner box in place while you center a couple of the screws. I also used "Lock-Tite", as there were no lock washers, and from experience, I know that screws tend to come loose during cycles of expansion and contraction. The directions are quite clear and easy to follow, however, they do not list the tools. For the screws, you can use either a common screw driver, or a #2 philips. I cheated and used an electric driver, but I recommend final tightening by hand so that the threads, or the screw head do not get stripped. Also, to make it easier when tightening nuts, use #9, #10 and #11 metric sockets. You could use an open end or box wrench, but I found using sockets to be easiest. This is solid construction, and all of the parts were packed securely, and fit into place without having to tweak anything here or there to make them fit. I do think that the chip bin is a bit small, but dumping and replacing with new chips was not a hassle; just be sure to use gloves. Unlike my old charcoal smoker, temperature recovery is very quick, if you have to open either the bottom or top doors for any reason. Most of the time, the control knob was set on the lowest setting, after preheating. I put the meat on the rack directly and put a catch pan on the rack beneath. The rack was easy to clean, and fit nicely in my dishwasher. In fact, I also put the water/wood chip pan in the dishwasher after a quick rinse. I do question the need for a "match holder" though. If the piezoelectric igniter doesn't work, I am not going to get down on my hands and knees to stick a match through a tiny hole. Instead, I would use my propane torch, or butane match to light it through the bottom firebox door. It must have been some sort of ISO requirement. Lighting with the piezoelectric igniter will take two clicks though, because I turn may gas off at both the unit and the tank, so that means that the line from the tank to the burner is going to have air in it, the first time you open the gas valve, so before the burner lights, all of the air has to be clear out of the line. The first click pushes the air out and gets the gas flowing, then turn the knob off, and click it again, and it will light. Anyway, I am very happy with the Cuisinart propane smoker, and it fits nicely beside my charcoal bar-b-que.

Cuisinart Vertical Propane Smoker, not the electric version. This is a great smoker at this price point. There are aspects that could be improved, but it's understandable that allowances were made to keep costs low. Pros: Large! Four racks that can be removed, so even a turkey will fit by removing a rack (or two). Heat control is decent. Low setting kept mine at 250^F. Easy to assemble, sturdy enough (again, price point). Temp gauge is pretty accurate, burner lights easily, temp control knob works fine. Cons: Costs were cut on the door handles. Not sure how to upgrade the closing mechanism, but I'm working on it. The unit doesn't seal well, but that's fixed with any after-market high-temp gasket. Other reviewers say not to seal the unit, but those must be for the electric model. Sealing the propane one is a no-brainer as there's an adjustable vent on the back to control smoke/heat. The tray that holds the wood chips also holds the water, which evaporates quite quickly. One fix for that is constant monitoring, the other is to use the included drip/water pan on the bottom shelf. When the water in the pan runs out, the temp can go up by 50^ or more. Thinking about a Rube Goldberg style automated water filler for the lower pan... So far everything I've smoked has turned out wonderfully. Bottom line: This is a great unit to start out with and possibly stick with. It's large, works great, is pretty bare-bones, and won't break the bank. The next step up in quality and features would be a leap, cost-wise.

Very nice cooked ribs and wings in it. It too difficult to assemble

Alright, so I took a plunge into smoking meats with the propane version of this smoker. I watched a lot of youtube videos and shout out to Harry Soo's youtube channel who inspired me to do this and I have gotten some excellent results. Watch his How to Prepare Brisket for smoking video from Harry Soo. Now to the smoker: *Instructions for this thing were very good and it was easy to put together. I live in a colder area and like to smoke year around so I purchased some grill gasket ($15) on amazon to seal around the inside of the door and keep more heat in right off the bat. *I did struggle on colder winter days to get the temperature to even 200 degrees and it did ruin one of my smoke sessions. I read some reviews and absolutely agree with others, the wood chip pan that sits over the propane is extremely thick to the point that it prohibits the smoker from getting even in the 225-250 range to smoke in really cold environments. I pulled the thick wood chip pan and wound up using some thin aluminum pans instead and it allowed the smoker to get in the range needed. This is a $3-5 fix. *Temperature gauge is not reliable and you have to get a digital thermometer. I think most people know you can't rely on these. *Durability - I've had it for a year and it has sat outside in Iowa winters covered when not in use. I think it has held up pretty good. Small amount of rust here and there. I don't really care how it looks and think it will hold up to use a few more years of use. Do I think it will last 5+ years, hard to say. Fish, brisket, chicken. It does an excellent job and is a great smoker for the money. Had they thought through the design of the wood chip pan a little bit better I think it could have been a 5 star smoker, but given that you do have to change parts to make it work I'm going to give it 4 stars

I recently got my hands on a smoker, and let me tell you—it's been a game changer for my backyard barbecues! From the moment I fired it up, the intoxicating aroma of wood smoke filled the air. The setup was a breeze, and the instructions were clear. I loved experimenting with different types of wood chips to achieve that perfect smoky flavor. What’s really fantastic is how versatile this smoker is. I’ve smoked everything from brisket to vegetables, and each dish has been a delicious adventure. Overall, this smoker has not only elevated my cooking game but has also brought friends and family together for some unforgettable meals. If you’re considering getting one, do it! Your taste buds will thank you, and your BBQ parties will never be the same!

Couldn’t be happier. this was my first attempt at smoking, easy to assemble and works as it should. Had no issues maintaining required temperature, easy to regulate the smoke. I didn’t do the best job my first attempt but that’s on me and not the hardware. Was easy to clean and I look forward to my next attempt at smoking.

Works well but bf said he wishes it had a window cause you have to open the door to see how it’s going but it lets all the heat/smoke out when you do

A Christmas gift for my husband. All research said it was a good intro model for us. My husband is TICKLED with it. The only downside is that we live in a place where the air outside hurts during winter. So, my husband has to wait until Spring Thaw before he can play with it. He has promised smoked brisket in the future. Easy to assemble. No glass window, which is fine because once the smoke starts, you can't see anything anyway.

Love this!