Barbecue Smoker

There is simply no doubt about it, barbecue smokers add an extra smokey flavour to your meats and fish every time delivering a taste that can't be matched.

In essence, a smoker is designed to deliver a delicious, mouthwatering taste, and it achieves this by cooking the food slowly over a variety of real woods by providing a slow even heat throughout.

The standard of barbecue smokers is rising all the time, with companies aiming for the highest possible quality combined with ease of use for the outdoor cooking enthusiast looking for something extra above a conventional barbecue.

There is a large range of real wood, charcoal, gas and electric barbecue smokers available for both personal and commercial applications.

Portable table top models are also available and are ideal for hot smoking sausages, fish, vegetables or meat, which are ideal if you only intend to hold a relatively small bbq.

There are plenty of good quality charcoal barbecue smokers on the market, take a look at the great deals below.

Different types of bbq smoker

Gas smokers Propane is a clean and simple way to get the smoker started. Gas smokers employ many tasty options for wood pellet or charcoal cooking and combine ergonomic controls for heat and ignition. Uprights give you mobility and make the ideal choice for compact outdoor areas. Traditional models include highly ventilated fireboxes that deliver exceptional tenderness and taste that you can only find in a gas smoker.	Smokers come in all shapes, sizes and fuel types including gas, electric and charcoal. Pictured here is the popular Brinkmann Smoke'n'grill
Electric smokers Electric smokers are the popular choice when a rapid start-time is your primary goal. In the upright models, they are designed to deliver a small footprint along with a relatively large interior cooking space. You can also enjoy outdoor cooking with various bbq smoker accessories including lava rocks and detachable feet. The openings on the front and lid make accessibility to your meats and fish an easy task with an electric smoker.
Charcoal smokers Charcoal smokers have their own unique benefits as they are capable of cooking at much higher temperatures than some smokers and as such, can cook through thick slabs of meat with ease. Don't be misled by the natural qualities of charcoal which conventially cook at high temperatures only. Most charcoal smokers are also quite capable of cooking at lower temperatures over long periods of time, and with the use of flavoured wood-chips, such as though used by Traeger, the flavors that are produced will delight your tastebuds. This is quite unique to charcoal smokers.
Cold smokers The food is smoked without heat - think smoked cheese, bacon, and cold smoked salmon and trout. All of these foods are cooked to perfection in a cold smoker and excellent consisten results are achieveable with the single downside being that it takes longer to smoke the food. There are many useful applications for a cold smoker, and where time is not a factor, you will find that the most common choice is a cold smoker.
Hot smokers The food is cooked and smoked at the same time. Think smoked chicken, smoked eel, smoked mackerel and hot smoked salmon. Hot smokers provide the quickest means to smoke and cook food and is often the most common choice in commericial applications such as large-scale catering. Hot smokers are sometimes used in private barbecues, though nowhere near as often as their gas and charcoal counterparts. Cooking time is one of the major benefits of using a hot smoker.
Water smokers A form of hot smoking where the food is smoked over hot charcoal to which wood chunks are added. A bowl of water within the smoker keeps the food moist. Water smoking is believed to be a cajun cooking technique used in the past for well over two hundred years. Water smoking can be employed in most charcoal smokers, though not in all cases as it depends largely upon the internal size available within the upright water smoker.

Getting started with a bbq smoker

If you have not used a barbecue smoker before then the array of equipment and information can be overwhelming. This is why we have compiled a comprehensive and ever-expanding section dedicated to the barbecue smoker to help you along the way.

To start with you may like to view the barbecue smoker FAQ. This useful information will give  answers to the most commonly asked questions about barbecue smokers. If you cannot find what you are looking for in there, then take a look through the various bbq smoker sections below.

Making your own homemade barbecue smoker

Building your own homemade smoker is a viable and inexpensive way of recycling old materials into a functional piece of outdoor cooking hardware. There are many different styles of homemade smoker designs using; oil drums, freezers, upright office cabinets and many others. Take a look at our homemade smoker guide and have a go at building one yourself. (For D.I.Y. enthusiasts only!)

Barbecue Smoker F.A.Q. - Find the answers to the most commonly asked questions in our barbecue smoker FAQ.


Barbecue Smoker Manufacturers - This is a comprehensive listing of barbecue smoker manufacturers that contains specific information regarding that particular manufacturers products.


Barbecue Smoker Wood Chips - You have a great pit or smoker but now you need some ideas for your wood chips. What do you use ? What do they taste like ? How can I get the best from them ? For more information on wood chips take a look at the barbecue wood chips and smoker wood chips sections.


Buying a Barbecue Smoker - Buying a barbecue smoker is not as hard as you might think provided you have a good idea of what your requirements actually are. Make your life easier by reading our guidelines on how to buy a barbecue smoker.


Looking after your Barbecue Smoker - A smoker is like any other piece of hardware, it requires maintenance to keep it in good working order and to ensure that it delivers the best results time after time. Our barbecue smoker maintenance guide explains the best ways to keep your smoker in tip-top shape.

Barbecue Smoker Related Articles

Barbecue Hygiene - Read this article to find out how you can improve your barbecue hygiene and what steps you can take to ensure that your meal is safe for both your family and guests.

Barbecue Safety - This interesting article explains how you can improve your barbecue safety which is one of the most important aspects of any barbecue and is well worth reading.