So what is your opinion on traditional offset smokers vs pellet smokers. I have a traditional offset stick burner and I love it. It can be hard sometimes to manage the heat, but it always produces a good cook. I know there are pros and cons on both. I know some of the diehard bbq cooks don�t consider the pellet coolers a real smoker. So what do y�all think?

I'm happy with my masterbuilt.

For those that don't cook all the time, or just getting into BBQ, then a pellet smoker is fine. Like an electric smoker, it will produce a nice product, and you do not need any babysitting.

As your comfort and experience increase, then you might consider an offset pit. Downside is a fair amount of babysitting and learning how to control smoke & heat. Upside is the beer drinking while performing such tasks.

I love my offset smoker. I have an Oklahoma Joe that I knew was a beginning smoker when I bought it used and have done very well with it. Although yesterday I did have a hard time keeping the heat down. I am in the market for the same style just made of quarter-inch steel. My neighbor just purchased a pellet smoker and the temperature control does look like an advantage.

I�m not sure why anyone who has watched a Treager smoke at 225 would look you in the face and say �that�s not a real smoker�. Or, that�s just an outdoor oven. Ovens don�t produce flavored smoke.

I have had both over the years and my Treager is the most versatile I�ve ever used. Changing pellets from mesquite or hickory to applewood or maple is very easy. I keep a 5 gallon bucket of each just in case I do ribs or a brisket or chicken. You just have to find what you like best.

I have only had it about a year. You absolutely have to clean it out after every 24 hours of use. The fire box will get ash build up. And on long smoke recipes like a 10# brisket, where you go 12-14 hours, you need a water container to keep at least a little extra moisture in the chamber.
Overall I am very happy with it and the folks that I have cooked for would agree. The learning curve was pretty sharp at first. I cooked a bad brisket and some bad ribs. But I think that is all history now.

That is the pellet smoker my neighbor has. We both smoked brisket yesterday. He set his at 225, filled the pellet chamber, and walked off. He checked on it occasionally and 13 hours later had a pretty good brisket. I was cooking on my offset and battled the heat all day. I couldn�t get that thing under 270. I cooked it hot and fast, was done in about six hours, and it actually turned out well. But I did a lot more babysitting then he did.

I smoked a 12 pounder Wednesday night. Put it on a 1am. 225 degrees.
I checked it at 6am and the chamber temp had actually dropped to about 190� which to me is preferable over a temperature spike hot.
All you have to do is drop it down to shut down mode, which slows the auger feeding the pellets. Wait about 10 minutes and then kick it back up. After I did that it was set at 220 until about 4pm. Meat temp was just over 190.
Took it out and put it in a cooler to rest until 6.
I think it was the best one that I have ever done.
Very easy to do and delicious!

I had several offset smokers in the past and they were good, just had to babysit them. I now have a Louisiana Pellet pooper. I catered a luncheon awhile back, I put the meat on at 3:00am and went back to bed, no worries. Not having to babysit a smoker gives me more time to drink.

This guy builds a very nice smoker.

https://www.bigphilssmokers.com/

I'll stick with my off set cooker, but I do understand why folks go with pellet. I wonder though if there were two BBQ joints next door to each other, one wood smoke one pellet. I wonder which one most folks would eat at first...

I will keep on using my offset or my BGE. Even though you can make a good product on a pellet, it does not end up the same as cooking on a wood fire.

I love my Pit Boss pellet smoker. Everything I�ve cooked on it has been great.

Pellet for ribs and brisket, charcoal for burgers and steaks.

I have an offset smoker trailer that I converted to run off of propane. Above the burner ring is a cast iron Dutch oven where I put chunks of wood (about the size of 2 golf balls side by side) 6-7 at a time. I start the burner and let it come to temp, and add wood chunks every couple of hours, and 12 hours later, I have a damn fine brisket. I just need to figure out a contraption to automatically add the wood chunks for me and I will be done.

Would love to see a blind taste test with each type of smoker used. I bet the people that could raste the difference and guess which one was which would be very low.