Weber Smokey Mountain Review

Hey all….full time lurker, rare poster.

I’ve had the 18″ weber smokey mountain for 4 years now and have probably run about 40 loads through it so I’d like to give a little review for other thinking about adding a smoker to their arsenal.

The good..
1. Flavor. And honestly one of the top 2 or 3 reasons I went with a charcoal style smoker. Prior to purchase while doing my research it looked like most of the BBQ pros are using a version of a charcoal or wood fired smoker. Compared to other types of smokers I’ve noticed this style of smoker really does give off a more natural smokey flavor

2. Simplicity. I hate fixing toys. There is virtually nothing on here that can break or fail. And overall it is very well constructed much like all other weber products. You will only need one of these for the rest of your life.

3. Converts to a charcoal grill by removing the center section and placing a cooking grate over the charcoal burning bottom. I’ve done this more than a few times when cooking for a bigger crowd and it is easy and handy.

The mediocre
1. Temp control and burn time. Because there is no thermocouple or digital controls, it takes a while to learn how to get the right fuel load and damper position to control the temp. If temp is super important to you, you will need to let the smoker “settle in” before you get the meat on.
Burn time is tough. To be honest I’ve rarely ever smoked anything longer than 5-6 hours. By that time is seems like I would need to re-fuel. Also the water bowl would have completely evaporated and need to be refilled as well.

2. Size. You can fit two 8lb butts in it, but I can tell you your going to be burning a lot of fuel to get all that up to temp and keep it steady.

The not so good.
1. Water bowl. The water bowl is a critical component for maintaining temp and adds moisture to the smoking process. The more you use the smoker the more you will learn when to use it and when not to. But that bowl is way oversized or really gets in the way when trying to add smoking wood or more charcoal. It is honestly 3 or 4 inches too deep. You will have to tend to the smoker when it is doing it’s job, so working around that water bowl is a really pain.

A few tips to speed up the learning curve.
1. Use high quality charcoal, mix in natural lump charcoal to improve flavor and increase temp.
2. The guide supplied with the smoker is really good. Follow the guide and you be making good smoked meat right away.
3. Be patient. Let the smoker settle into a temp before adding meat.

Hopes this helps anyone who is trying to decide on what smoker is right for them. I really like mine, but it takes time to learn how to use it properly.

My least favorite part of the WSM was that the water bowl would collect all of the rendered fat from the cook. Which was gross and difficult to get rid of with pets around the house.
I now use a pizza tin that fits over the bowl and collects everything.

I usually keep a tin basket on the lower rack to collect drippings and then use that when it comes time to wrap in foil.

I do agree that the water bowl is in the way when it comes to re-loading the charcoal on longer cooks.

When you wrap in foil, preheat your kitchen oven and finish it off in it!

You will not gain any more benefit any more smoke flavor in the Weber, your foil seals out that.Low and slow may be obtained from your oven at 225 degrees.

If you use butcher paper or even nowrap there is still no advantage to the Weber over the oven. BBQ chefs state that a piece of meat will not absorb any more smoke after the IT of the meat reaches about 145 or higher.

So save the fuel costs and use gas when your meats IT is wrapping time!

nice write up. As Mookie states i usually wrap my water bowl in foil. this prevents the yucky and difficult cleanup

Ive also done as Denny states – smoked on my weber for a few hours to give it that smokey flavor then finish in the oven. ive made good food that way but its not as much fun drinking beer in a lawn chair next to the oven.

To be real honest i rarely use my WSM anymore because i find that my regular Weber grill does just as well and is easier to control and uses less fuel. I use a Slow N Sear on one side and can fit a pretty large chunk of meat on the other side of my weber. I just have a standard sized 18″. I usually just prepare meats for my immediate family. If im cooking for a crowd obviously i would need to dust off the old WSM

crappie55369 wrote:

i find that my regular Weber grill does just as well and is easier to control and uses less fuel.

I love smoking on my regular Weber Kettle, and did a 7 lbs brisket last week. After 3 hours of smoke, wrapped it in tin foil and back on the Weber and let it ride another 3ish hours until the coals burnt out and was time to eat. One of the most tender things I’ve smoked.

BigWerm wrote:

I love smoking on my regular Weber Kettle, and did a 7 lbs brisket last week. After 3 hours of smoke, wrapped it in tin foil and back on the Weber and let it ride another 3ish hours until the coals burnt out and was time to eat. One of the most tender things I’ve smoked.

I took a brisket out to thaw just this morning thats destined for the weber.