2022’s Best Offset Smoker

Do you want to be able to smoke like the pitmasters on TV? Do you want to be the winner of a BBQ competition? You’re probably longing over an offset smoker.

Purchasing the finest offset smoker, on the other hand, might be a dangerous business. This is due to the fact that inexpensive, cheaply constructed models are leaky and unstable, but a pricey model might cost you thousands of dollars.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the greatest offset smokers on the market today to assist you in your search for the best offset smoker. All of these offset smokers are suitable for any budget and degree of skill.

Best Overall Offset Smoker – Oklahoma Joe’s Highland

Most individuals cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars on the greatest offset smoker. Unless you’ve opted to mortgage your house to buy a smoker, which is definitely not the greatest idea, you’ll need the finest offset smoker to be cost-effective.

Yet, the cheaper end of the offset smoker market is flooded with poorly insulated, cheaply constructed smokers that entice purchasers with their realistic stylings. They then abandon them, leaving them frustrated and with terrible smoking outcomes.

This is the greatest offset smoker for anybody with a budget under $500. Unlike the other cheaper offset smokers, this one is made of heavy-gauge steel for more stability and heat retention.

The porcelain-coated grates provide 619 square inches of area in the main cooking chamber and additional 281 square inches in the firebox chamber for grilling. This Highland Offset Smoker may be configured as a reverse flow offset smoker.

This implies that the heat from the firebox will have to travel via a baffled flue to the end before being reversed and circulating into the main cooking chamber. This ensures that your food cooks evenly and tastes better.

Pros:

• Excellent value for money
• Excellent heat distribution
• The firebox grill provides more adaptability.
• It has a conventional appearance.

Cons:

• The Highland leaks when no sealant is used.
• Heat dispersion may be uneven.

Best Premium Offset Smoker – Yonder Wichita Loaded

If you have a large budget, this is the greatest offset smoker since the Yonder brand manufactures excellent offset smokers in the thousand-dollar range. Having said that, this is one of the finest offset smokers in the premium budget category.

It boasts 1,600 square inches of cooking capacity, making it the greatest offset smoker for the backyard while still catering to major parties or contests. It contains two 19.75×19 cooking grates in the main chamber, a second slide-out shelf that measures 14.5 x 36.5, and a 19 x 18 cooking grate in the firebox.

This offset smoker is made of plate and pipe steel in the United States. Yonder is recognized for producing high-quality items, so you can be certain that you are purchasing the finest offset smoker available.

It weighs 591 pounds, but it has wagon wheels that make it simple to transport when necessary.

Pros:

• High-quality and long-lasting construction
• There is a lot of cooking space.
• Temperature distribution that is consistent

Cons:

• Expensive

Best Budget – Char-Griller Smokin Pro

If you ask any BBQ expert, they would tell you to avoid inexpensive offset smokers like the Char-Griller Smokin Pro. In reality, you should probably disregard the pro portion of the name of this offset smoker since it was not built for professional usage.

This smoker does not have a tight seal, and the structure and materials might be thicker. Yet, if you are not afraid to make a few adjustments, this might be the greatest offset smoker for you.

You get 580 square inches of cooking area with this offset smoker, plus additional 250 square inches of warming or grilling room in the firebox. To alter this device, you may need to use barbeque silicone to seal the interior of the grill, especially where the grill and firebox are attached.

You’ll also discover that the built-in thermometer on this offset smoker is incredibly inaccurate, so skip it and acquire a professional meat thermometer instead.

Pros:

• Low-cost offset smoker
• This may be used as a charcoal grill.

Cons:

• Modifications are required.
• The thermometers incorporated within the device are quite imprecise.
• shoddy construction

Royal Gourmet CC1830F

This is a tiny and inexpensive charcoal barbecue with an offset smoker. Since it weighs less than 60 pounds, you will have no trouble transporting it. What’s more, since this is a smoker and grill combination, you can easily choose between grilling and smoking.

This is not the greatest offset smoker, but it will do for the time being if you are just getting started with one. Don’t be fooled by the size of this offset smoker. It has the ability to pack a punch and produce high-quality meats as a consequence.

The Royal Gourmet is ideally suited for tailgaters and campers due to its portability.

Lastly, the cooking area of this device is limited and will not allow you to prepare more than one kind of food at a time.

Pros:

• Excellent value
• Combination grill and smoker
• Portable

Cons:

• Cooking area is limited.
• Bad feedback
• Short-term usage is recommended.

Dyna-Glo Wide Body Vertical Offset

With 1,890 square inches of cooking space, this offset smoker is the biggest on our list. This is a heavy-duty vertical offset smoker that will impart the greatest flavor to the meat you’re smoking since the smoke rises to cover all of the meat within the smoker.

It has a large base, so you may smoke many different sorts of meat at the same time. Since it is a charcoal smoker, a whole smoking session will need a large amount of charcoal.

Yet, given how tasty this makes your meat, this is a sacrifice you may be willing to accept. It has adjustable cooking grates, a thermometer, and a stainless-steel ash pan.

The Dyna-Glo Wide Body is best suited for folks who have past smoking expertise and will not be moving this device often. This is due to the lack of wheels on this smoker and the vertical smoker’s design, which makes it more difficult to cook with if you have no smoking expertise.

It weighs 83 pounds and, although not the heaviest offset smoker on our list, it is still too heavy to move on your own.

Pros:

• Spacious
• Vertical design that saves space
• a number of cooking racks

Cons:

• There are no wheels.
• It needs a large amount of charcoal and gasoline.

Dyna-Glo Signature Series Vertical Offset

This offset smoker is quite thin and tall. It is distinctive in that it is built to sit on the left side of the firebox, while most other variants sit on the right. It’s a charcoal barbecue that stands 59 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds.

It does come with two wagon wheels, however due to the form of this device, it may be difficult to move about. It does have a huge cooking space, measuring 1,400 square inches. You should have no trouble preparing huge dinners for your family with this much room.

This smoker has few features, but it does have a detachable ash pan and charcoal grate.

Pros:

• Combination smoker and grill
• Spacious kitchen area
• It is equipped with wagon wheels.

Cons:

• Features are limited.

Oklahoma Joe’s Bandera

With approximately 1,000 square inches spread out across four cooking grates, the Oklahoma Joes Bandera’s design lets you to cook big quantities of food at once. The vertical shape of this device lets smoke to organically drift up the chimney and onto your meats.

It has a temperature thermometer, meat hooks, a detachable ash pan, and a few other amenities that you’d expect from an offset smoker of this size. At a height of 63 inches and a weight of over 200 pounds, you may think the Bandera would take up a lot of room in your backyard. But, because to its distinctive vertical design, it takes up less space than a standard horizontal offset smoker.

Oklahoma Joes is a well-known smoking brand, and their goods are built to endure. Hence, when you buy the Bandera from Oklahoma Joes, you can be certain that you’re receiving a fantastic product.

Pros:

• Spacious kitchen area
• Vertical design that saves space
• Meat snares

Cons:

• It consumes a lot of charcoal and gasoline.
• The paint does not last long.

Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn Offset Smoker

This is the most costly offset smoker available from Oklahoma Joes. The Longhorn produces consistent results by providing adjustable dampers that allow you to manage the temperature and smoke levels of your smoker.

A typical criticism is that the vent stack is excessively high, allowing more heat to escape than desired. Nonetheless, this is not a major disadvantage.

Cool-touch handles, a front rack for cooking utensils, and rust-resistant frying grates are among the many features of this item. You may note that the features on this offset smoker are quite similar to the characteristics on the other Oklahoma Joes smokers.

Combination of wood. This is one of the greatest offset smokers since it can utilize both charcoal and wood, so if you’re feeling daring, you could even use a charcoal.

Pros:

• Regularly produces excellent results
• Controlling the temperature and smoke level is simple.
• It is capable of burning both wood and charcoal.

Cons:

• Features are limited.

Horizon 16” Classic Smoker

This is the most versatile offset smoker. It can withstand temperatures ranging from 160°F to 325°F, depending on what you’re attempting to manufacture. One disadvantage of this item is that it only has 680 square inches of cooking area.

Obviously, you may expand the cooking surface by purchasing more costly versions. Yet, at this price, you’d think an offset smoker would have greater cooking area.

Despite the shortage of cooking area, there are several noteworthy characteristics. This item, for example, includes a side firebox door for simple ash removal, meat hooks, and grease drains, but it does not have a smoker box to add extra smoke to your meat.

The Horizon Classic Smoker can burn both charcoal and wood, and can even do it simultaneously. While weighing 380 pounds, this device can be readily transported because to its two heavy-duty wheels. It has a lifetime guarantee against burnouts, so it should last you for many years.

Pros:

• Diverse
• Lifetime guarantee
• It has a lot of nice features.

Cons:

• Cooking area is limited.

How Does the Best Offset Smoker Work?

The greatest offset smoker includes a huge main chamber in which you cook the meal and a tiny firebox in which you burn charcoal or wood. The firebox is usually linked to the rear or side of the main cooking chamber and is located underneath it. This is why it is referred to as an offset smoker.

The fire created inside the firebox provides smoke and heat, which adds flavor to your food and cooks it indirectly.

The finest offset smoker normally includes a chimney that is connected to the other end of the smoker from where the firebox is and has a vent on the firebox side to adjust the heat and smoke levels in the main chamber.

To maintain control over the smoking environment in the main chamber, the chimney and vent may be opened and closed. Since the original chambers were constructed of oil drums, the primary cooking chamber of the greatest offset smoker looks like one.

The Difference Between Horizontal and Vertical Offset Smokers

The source of heat in a vertical offset smoker is located directly underneath the food being cooked. The heat source of a horizontal offset smoker is located immediately to the side of the main cooking chamber.

Vertical offset smokers provide more delicious food because the fluids from the cooked meat flow down into the flames and generate a mist that rises to the meat. This is comparable to pit barrel smokers. Cooking using a vertical offset smoker, on the other hand, is significantly more difficult since you’re cooking right over the fire.

You won’t get the same delicious flavor with a horizontal offset smoker, but they’re far simpler to cook with and less likely to burn your food.

The one you choose is a matter of personal choice and your degree of smoking experience.

Who Should Invest in the Best Offset Smoker?

The ordinary grill expert’s ambition is to get the greatest offset smoker. Why? Since offset smokers resemble conventional smokers and have the capacity to smoke meat for the whole community.

Yet, like with any costly cooking equipment, you must choose a smoker that meets your cooking requirements, and offset cookers do have limitations that you must consider.

These are some of the major advantages and disadvantages of buying and using an offset cooker to help you decide whether it is the right option for you:

The Pros

• The large primary cooking chamber makes these smokers ideal for cooking large amounts of food.
• Since the firebox isn’t designed to be a part of the main chamber, you can simply open it and add extra wood or charcoal without letting the smoke or heat escape.
• Despite the fact that offset smokers are referred to as stick burners, they may be fuelled with both charcoal and wood. Cooking with this mixture of charcoal and wood is less fussy than cooking with just wood. Moreover, you may acquire that smokey taste without getting any creosote, soot, or ash on the meat.
• Certain offset smoker models have a grill grate that fits over the firebox, allowing for direct smoking and grilling.

The Cons

• These devices are neither portable nor light. They may weigh more than a hundred pounds. Moving an offset smoker is not difficult, but it is quite inconvenient.
• They are massive, so if your backyard or garage isn’t big enough to use and store an offset smoker, you should acquire a small smoker.
• Smoking and cooking on one of these smokers takes time. This is because certain models might take up to an hour to heat up and are only suitable for slow and low cooking.
• You must consider the environment in which you live. Offset smokers do not work well in cold locations, and the performance of the best offset smoker might be compromised by heavy rain and strong winds unless you choose one of the more costly, well-built versions.
• It takes time and experience to get some of the greatest smoking outcomes from an offset smoker. Offset smokers are popular among grill aficionados because achieving the proper smoke is an art form. When an offset smoker works properly, it is fantastic; but, you will have to work very hard to obtain the greatest smoke from one.

To recap what youve just read, the finest offset smoker is an excellent option for people with adequate room for such a massive and hefty piece of cooking equipment, as well as the patience and time to learn how to obtain the greatest smoke from a machine that is not beginner-friendly.

Be Careful of Cheap and Useless Offset Smokers

The most serious problem with offset smokers is that the market is rife with poorly built and inexpensive ones.

The main issue with buying a cheap offset smoker is that build quality is critical to achieving the greatest results from an offset smoker. Poorly designed and constructed smokers feature poor heat retention, malfunctioning main cooking chamber doors that leave your food dry, and poorly sealed fireboxes that leak oxygen.

The root of the problem is physics: smoke and heat prefer to go upwards rather than to the side. As a result, as smoke and heat leave the firebox on one side and attempt to ascend, the side of the main chamber closest to the firebox becomes hotter than the other.

This implies that unless you rotate your meat throughout the smoking phase, the meat closest to the firebox will cook quicker than the others.

A well-built offset smoker will force hot air to traverse the length of the main chamber, distributing heat uniformly and maintaining consistent heat and oxygen levels.

What Should I Search for in the Best Offset Smoker?

It makes no difference whatever model you choose. The finest offset smokers will exhibit comparable characteristics. Here is a list of things to look for and questions to ask when purchasing the finest offset smoker.

Questions

• How robust does it seem to be?
• When you press on particular portions of the grill, does it give?
• Is the material pliable?
• Will you be leaving this smoker outside?
• Would the materials used to construct the smoker corrode quickly?
• How do the wheels appear?
• Will the wheels make it easier to transport the unit?

You should ask yourself these questions before purchasing an offset smoker to ensure that it is built to last and will meet your demands.

Insulation and Build Quality

As previously said, buying a low-quality offset smoker constructed of thin metal will provide you no control over the amount of smoke, heat, and oxygen in the main chamber.

When choosing an offset smoker, ensure that it is built with a minimum of thick steel and has great quality food chamber doors and vents. The disadvantage is that it will not be inexpensive.

Weight is an essential factor to consider while looking for the finest offset smoker. This is due to the fact that the heavier the unit, the more probable the materials used to manufacture that model better are.

Another factor to consider is the unit’s wheels. Since offset smokers with large wheels are often heavy, you want a unit with large wheels.

Is a Reverse Flow Smoker Better?

Smoke and heat are drawn from the firebox and over the cooking meat just once: when it is coming from the chimney.

A baffle mechanism in a reverse flow smoker gathers smoke and heat beneath the main chamber before returning it to the cooked meat on its route out the chimney.

This reversing method employs both smoke and heat. Grilling fans argue that smoking meat this way makes it more delicious and tender.

If you’re not sure which one to choose, bear in mind that in a standard arrangement, the smokestack or chimney will be at the opposite end of the firebox, but in a reverse layout, the chimney will be at the same end as the firebox.

Price

Using the price as a shopping guide is an excellent method to avoid purchasing a worthless and inexpensive offset smoker.

The finest offset smokers generally cost between $800 and $1,000 for a starter unit. Although this isn’t cheap, the additional money you’re paying is on a higher-quality construction, which, as we previously said, is critical to getting your offset smoker to perform effectively.

Consider the additional money invested as a strategy to guarantee that your irritation level is significantly lower in the future. If you think the $250 offset smoker on sale at your local hardware shop is too good to be true, you’re probably right.

Size

This is an important factor to consider. When you go out and buy an offset smoker, make sure you measure the area where you want to install it.

Remember that the term offset refers to how the prospective grill grate and firebox protrude from the rear or side of the main cooking chamber, so keep that in mind.

Accessories

Consider the accessories and functions that the offset smoker provides. Consider the following:

• Is there a wheel locking mechanism?
• Is it transportable?
• Is there an included cover?
• Does it include any culinary utensils?
• Is there a front shelf?

Some of these features and accessories may or may not be significant to you. This is particularly true for the wheel locking mechanism, as the last thing you want is for your offset smoker to move on its own.

Cooking Area

The last factor to consider is the size of the cooking area. You want adequate room to cook all of the food that you need to prepare at once. Consider the following:

• Is there a single cooking grate? Or does the unit have more than one?
• How much food can you prepare at once?

Although a smaller cooking area may be sufficient for you, there are a variety of reasons why you may want something larger. As a result, when selecting the finest offset smoker, consider how much cooking area you need.

Using Your Offset Smoker

To assist you get started with your offset smoker, we’ve compiled a list of pointers that will come in handy while you’re just getting started.

Use a Wood/Charcoal Combination to Cook

The fact that offset smokers are usually referred to as stick burners does not imply that they can only be used to cook with wood. Instead, combine wood and charcoal to achieve that smokey taste from the wood while also benefiting from the simple temperature control of charcoal.

To begin, fill the smoker’s firebox with completely lit charcoal from a chimney starter, then add wood as needed to maintain a consistent temperature.

Use a Meat Thermometer

Even the finest offset smokers may have temperature differences of up to 75 degrees F from one side of the cooking surface to the other.

To guarantee that the meat within your smoker cooks evenly and that no problems arise in the firebox, check the internal temperature on both sides of the smoker at 20-minute intervals.

The simplest way to accomplish this is to drill two holes, one on each end of the cooking chamber of the pellet smoker, and then insert the meat thermometer into those holes.

Take it Easy with the Smoke Levels

When it comes to the amount of smoke an offset smoker produces within the main chamber for cooking, you should use the less is more approach. If you’re going to use wood,

You do not need to soak the wood pieces; just add four ounces at ten-minute intervals when the temperature hits 200 degrees F.

Final Thoughts

The greatest offset smoker will need work and time to learn how to operate effectively, which means you’ll have a few trial runs before preparing the ideal dinner.

While looking for the greatest offset smoker, remember to avoid inexpensive models that won’t offer you the results you desire. You may choose a less expensive model, but it will need adjustments to function properly.

As you can see from the options in this post, you don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to have the greatest offset cooker. But, the best offset smoker will run you back a few hundred dollars.