Slow and Cold Smoker Accessory Attachment With Removable Ash Tray for Masterbuilt Vertical BBQ Smokers in Black, 10" x 10" x 18", Model MB20100112

If you own an digital Masterbuilt smoker, you should buy this to get the full design capabilities of the smoker out of it. If you are thinking about buying one of these smokers, be aware that sooner rather than later you will be compelled to buy this.The current design of digital Masterbuilt smokers is designed to sell you a somewhat mobile, bare-bones unit at a reduced price with minimal electric consumption. Accordingly with these smokers, smoke is added to the food being smoked through an absolutely primitive arrangement -- you add a half-cup of wood chips to a thoroughly rinky-dink cutout in a tube assembly, slide it into the machine, and you get 45 minutes to an hour of smoke going through the smoker. After that time is up, you have to refill the chips.So, if you're smoking a full load in your smoker, you can expect to have to refill your smoker with wood chips 9 or 10 times over 6-7 hours. Masterbuilt advises you to bend down and look through the tube that the previously-mentioned tube assembly goes in to ascertain if the chips you put in before have burned down. Look into the orifice leaking smoke carefully. Because f you overfill the tray at the end of the tube, the tube assembly will jam.As dark and smoky as the orifice in the smoker that you're supposed to see clearly into, and given the low position it's in, not comparing it to a pig's nether hole is impossible. And every forty-five minutes, you're back shoving chips into the pighole, feeding the smoker. Oh, the people at Masterbuilt must have had a really good chuckle thinking this up.It's a hustle. You need this "cold smoking kit" to make the Masterbuilt electric smokers fully functional, a clear "gotcha fee" in addition to the original price of the smoker. This kit gives you a steady stream of smoke with the heating element burning the chips outside the smoker itself, so generating the smoke by using the kit minimally affects the temperature the smoker is kept at. The heating element inside the smoker itself is much more efficient and effective once the work of warming up the tray and making the chips smoke is taken off it, so the smoker stays closer to the target temperature. Finally, this device produces at least twice as much smoke for your smoker as the original tube-and-tray assembly, and that smoke flow is absolutely steady, instead of being governed by when the heating element in the smoker proper needs to turn on. The smoke is billed to last for six hours -- I've never managed to make the self-feeding chimney stack of chips do a full six hours, but it does drastically reduce the number of times you'll have to fill your newly modified smoker, and in addition to that refilling is much easier if you use a large funnel, makeshift or otherwise.This kit is not even sold as a "cold smoking kit" on the Masterbuilt retail packaging, it's a "slow smoker." The fact that it adds a cold-smoking capability to your electric smoker really is incidental to its design. After you bolt this kit on, you should use it for both hot and cold smoking.There are four other things you should know:1. My Masterbuilt electric smoker has a set of wheels on it. Once you bolt this thing on, your smoker isn't moving anywhere safely. The assembly to attach the thing to the body of the smoker is clearly designed to be permanent2. And once this is on, for a 30" smoker, you'll need the 40" Masterbuilt cover for it.3. Remove the tube assembly and the chip tray that together formed the original wood chip delivery system when you attach this kit. It's not in the directions.4. You'll need two power outlets to run your smoker with this kit attached. It only draws 1.25 amps.

Cold smoker works great! Dry wood chips last about 2-3 hours, soaked wood chips last 4-6 hours. You can even use pellets in this thing, just dont fill it all the way because the pellets expand and will push the cap open (lasts 8 hours!) It's a gravity fed system, wood chips or pellets are placed inside a square tube with metal screen bottom, you fill it while unit is installed over the small electrical element. The metal cap for the tube keeps most of the smoke from escaping pushing it into your smoker. It has an ash catcher tray that you can remove to view the element and screen, it works better if you tap the metal tube or its cap occasionally to make the ashes drop allowing it to breathe and keep the smoke production high (ash blanket blocks air flow). Keep your main smokers exhaust vent slightly open to allow air to move through the unit to produce the most smoke, otherwise the smoke will escape through the lid or door instead, and smoke will be lost. The temperature stays cold, like it should. Just remember to keep the main smokers hearing element from turning on by not setting time or temperature, this way you're only using it to tell you what the temp is (when smoking cheese)... I keep the water pan full of ice, too.When using it for hot smoking, use the main unit to control temperature and time (obviously), just keep the side attachment unit (cold smoker) full of chips or pellets and do your thing. No more messing with the tiny chip tray! Make sure everything is assembled correctly before operating the unit (no stray washers or bolts in electrical connections or switch area. It's a simple system that needs minimal attention to keep it producing that perfect smoke. As far as design, it has a couple of issues, none of which affect the performance of the unit, just a little oversight that could be improved in the future. For example, the lower electrical vents on the unit dont allow it to sit flush against the main smoker (see pic), and the paint under the lid bubbles off (some sort of reaction from smoke and moisture with the paint). Also, you can't use the legs or it will not sit flush with the smoker at the bottom, this won't matter if you're using the stand for the main smoker. Attach it to the smoker using the hardware provided and omit the legs for the small smoke box, and plug the holes with something to ensure proper air flow restriction. You dont want too much air flow, nor do you want too little. You'll get the hang of it after a while. Small tweaks here and there, and it will be perfect.

After using the Masterbuilt 710 digital smoker, and reading reviews and advice from other users, I decided I needed this accessory to keep producing smoke while heating the main unit at a low temperature. I didn't read the fine print before I bought this; this unit was not meant for the 710 as it sits too low. So I had to create a shelf for it to sit upon so it could align with the smoke input hole on the 710. (See photos.) Now it works great, and I can smoke at temperatures such as 225 degrees (F) while still producing plenty of smoke. This unit just has an on-off switch. I consider it a must-have accessory for Masterbuilt smokers whether the recommended models or ones such as the 710 that need adapting. I can't guarantee it will work with other models, but with the 710 and a little work, it works great. It seems well-built and I've had no problems so far. It's worth the money. I would rate it a 5 if it adapted more easily to my Masterbuilt smoker.

Works great! It's the perfect upgrade to Masterbuilt electric smokers that allow you to add wood chips. I just don't understand why they don't build this into their smokers to begin with. I have the 40" digital with legs, and it's a no-brainer that this should have come with at purchase or been part of the design (smoking box on the side). Why should you have to add it? This device makes the Masterbuilt electric smoker superior to any other electric smoker. Once added, the smoker works easier and better, plus gives the additional benefit of cold smoking capability. I would have gladly paid for a model with the slow smoking box already attached. If you own a Masterbuilt electric, you need this.