Best Smokers of 2024, According to Experts and Enthusiasts

The Camp Chef woodwind is a very capable, highly advanced and effective smoker with many features that make smoking meat both easy and a joy.

With a temperature range from 160 F for low n smoking, up to 650 F for high temp searing in the main cooking chamber, with an additional gas-fuelled side sear box that goes up to 900 F, this unit really can do everything from roasting and baking, to grilling and braising.

Perhaps the most standout feature of the Woodwind is the PID controller.

The controller has a constant feedback loop that enables this smoker to maintain a very stable temperature — essential for accurate cooking and professional results.

It also has a ‘smoke setting’ that allows you to set a preferred level of smokiness from 1 to 10, to suit different people’s tastes.

Another impressive feature is the Wi-Fi connectivity.

After connecting the unit to your home Wi-Fi, you can monitor, control, and tweak your cook from anywhere in the world you have a connection to your smartphone, by using the Camp Chef connect app.

The app displays the temperature of the smoker, the internal temperature of the meats you’re smoking, receives notifications and alarms you set for different stages of your cook, and allows you to change settings, all from your phone.

This frees you up to get on with your day without being tied to your smoker, but while still having complete control.

Another impressive feature is the addition of a side attachment sear box.

Pellet smokers notoriously have a hard time providing a true sear, and it’s a constant debate in the smoking world. Not so with this unit.

Included is a 180 square inch, 16,000 BTU gas fuelled sear-box attachment that can provide direct flame searing up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, overcoming perhaps the only drawback most people see in other pellet smokers.

Further great features include a ‘slide and grill,’ where you can uncover the fire pot for a final flame fuelled sear in the main grill; Easy ash cleanout with the simple pull of a knob that opens the firebox for ashes to fall into a cup; Four integrated meat probes, removing the need for an external 3rd party thermometer; A 22lb hopper capacity that can take an entire bag of pellets, so there’s never any half bags lying around (most other smokers have a smaller capacity.)

We should also praise the full-sized upper and lower grates.

Most smokers have a single cooking grate and upper warming rack. Not so with the Woodwind that has full-sized upper and lower grates, offering a cooking capacity of over 800 square inches in only a medium-sized unit, and increasing the versatility of the unit immensely.

The Camp Chef Woodwind pellet smoker with side sear box deserves a place on this list, as it’s probably the most advanced and versatile pellet smoker to come to market at the time of writing of this guide.

It has excellent build quality, fantastic looks (if that’s important to you), many attractive features, and all at a very reasonable price.

This is a fantastic smoker, and there’s really not much at all I don’t like about it.

Check out our full Camp Chef Woodwind Wi-Fi review for more details.

If you’re after a simple looking, highly functional smoker that provides an easy introduction into the world of smoking, this just might be the unit for you.

Electric smokers are the product on which Masterbuilt built their brand. You cannot discuss electric smokers without mentioning Masterbuilt.

This 30-inch model is one of their best, a classic, and an incredibly popular smoker for beginners.

It’s a vertical smoker, offering a large capacity of 730 square inches of cooking space in a small footprint, that won’t take up much space in your yard.

The 800-watt heating element powers this smoker to between 100 °F and 275 °F, a good range and perfect for both delicate cheese and fish at the low-end, to poultry, ribs and brisket at the high-end.

It has an LED display on the top that you use to program in cooking temps and times at the push of a few buttons, as well as read the status of your cook, so it’s push-button easy. There is almost no learning curve. It couldn’t be easier.

Also, on top of the unit is a vent that you use to increase or reduce airflow to set your desired smokiness of the food.

To add more wood chips during a smoke, you simply insert them through a side loader, which is highly convenient and easier than almost any other type of smoker you can find.

There is a double-duty water and drip pan that slides in and out of the base, adding moisture to the cook, and that collects drippings to make clean up easier, and is simple to wash down with dish soap.

If you’ve ever used a smoker or grill that does not have a drip pan, you’ll be aware of just how grim things can get with grease collecting and burning sometimes. Not so with this smoker.

This is a good medium-sized smoker, efficient and small enough to cater for a couple or small family, but who would also like the possibility of occasionally cooking for larger crowds and gatherings.

Simple to use, effective, frills-free, it does what it’s supposed to do with ease and no fuss.

You can find better looking, more fully-featured electric smokers, but for the mix of build quality, effective smoking, and price point, you can’t do much better than this Masterbuilt 30-inch model.

Check out our full Masterbuilt 30 review for more details.

If you’re a beginner looking for a quality backyard smoker, the Weber Smokey Mountain is a cult favorite.

Since its introduction, the WSM has been one of the most popular bullet style smokers, with many cookbooks, and a web forum, created especially for the WSM.

A 3-part porcelain enameled steel smoker bullet with two 22.5-inch nickel plated cooking grates included, this smoker measures 24 × 23 × 48.5 inches, weighs 68 pounds and provides a whopping 726 sq. In. Cooking surface area.

Although smaller sizes are available, spending the extra hundred bucks or so on the larger size can allow for much more smoking in a still relatively compact package.

You also get a porcelain-enameled water pan, premium Weber cover, an owner’s guide, and an impressive 10-years limited Weber warranty.

Although this may be rated as one of the best beginner smokers, it does have a steep learning curve. This isn’t just a “setup and go” smoker. You need to manage the vents and airflow for constant temperature control.

If you’re looking for the simplest smoker to use, electric, gas, or even pellet smokers can be easier to master.

The Weber Smokey Mountain is a quality cooker from one of the industry’s most respected manufacturers. It’s even backed up with an astounding 10-year warranty, so this smoker should last for years to come, especially if you use the included premium cover.

Although bullet smokers are ideal for beginners, it can take some practice for the best results. Luckily there is plenty of information available online and guides on setting up charcoal smokers, the vent control and general smoking times on the WSM.

Check out our full Weber Smokey Mountain review for further details.

This is one of the manliest looking of smokers you could ever buy. Put this in your backyard and people know you mean business. And for larger cuts of meat, the reverse flow technology ensures even smoking throughout.

For the best smoke flow possible in an offset, you really do need a reverse flow smoker. The Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn reverse flow smoker is one of the best at an affordable price.

This heavy gauge all-steel construction arrives in parts which need assembling at home. It’s quite easy to build, but the sheer weight of this unit — 275 pounds — means you may need somebody to help out.

Truly great offset smokers run into thousands of dollars, but as a compromise for decent quality and effectiveness, you can’t go wrong with this model.

With a 751 square inch main grate cooking surface, it employs a series of four baffles, for guiding the smoke and heat through the main chamber, all around and over the food. There’s also 309-square-inches of secondary cooking space.

The great thing about reverse flow technology is it avoids the uneven cooking you normally associate with offset smokers. Although the firebox is still at one end of the chamber, the smoke traversing the cooking chamber twice while being forced over the meats provides an even and delicious result.

If you’ve decided to go down the offset smoker route, you really should consider how it smokes rather than just how it looks. The reverse flow smoke technology of this model ensures you get evenly cooked and smoked meats every time.

This is the 3^rd version of the Kamado Joe Big Joe, and they just keep getting better.

The big Joe III is taller than previous models, slightly elongated, and the extra volume means you can now have 3 different grate levels with all the versatility to your cooks that brings.

Inside is a divide and conquer cooking system, which uses half moon shaped heat deflectors and grates, so you can set up different heat zones, or cook directly and indirectly simultaneously.

One of the many new features of the version III is the Harvard-designed hyperbolic SloRoller insert.

The SloRoller is scientifically designed to maximize rolling smoke and heat throughout the cooking chamber, eliminating hot spots and increasing contact between food and smoke for an extra punchy BBQ flavor.

You also get an upgraded cart that is better designed to be more robust and incorporates a storage shelf.

The charcoal basket is designed to lift right out so you can simply shake off old ashes, keeping unburned charcoal for your next cook. And it also has a divider so you can more easily set charcoal to one side to use less fuel for smaller cooks, or set up indirect cooking.

You get an air-lift hinge that is sprung to take most of the lid’s weight when opening and closing, so you can do it with one finger.

And the firebox is now multi-panel, which fixes the pain point of previous models where the firebox would occasionally expand and crack when it was a single piece.

Looking at specs, the Big Joe II is 53.47 inches high when on the cart. It has a 24-inch diameter cooking surface and weighs a whopping 487 pounds.

You can run this smoker at anything from 225 °F to 750 °F, meaning you can grill, sear, roast, bake, and smoke.

This really is a top-of-the-line Kamado smoker, with an unbeatable combination of classic and innovative features.

I personally own this grill, cook on it at least weekly, and can honestly say it’s my favorite of all grills that I have ever owned. I cannot recommend it enough.

For further details and to see many of the foods I have cooked on this beast, please see our Kamado Joe Big Joe III review.

When it comes to Ugly Drum smokers, you can always build your own if you’re on a tight budget.

If you can’t get your hands on an oil drum or don’t have the DIY expertise or tools, the Pit Barrel cooker is an excellent alternative, with all the accessories you could ever need also included.

The 30-gallon porcelain coated steel drum comes with an 18.5-inch standard cooking grate and a charcoal basket. It has two steel hanging rods and eight stainless steel hooks.

Also included are a wooden hook remover and a 3-point barrel stand.

It measures 21 × 21 × 31.1 inches, weighs 57 pounds, is fueled by charcoal briquettes and offers up a cooking surface area of 240 square inches…though that can be deceiving as you can hang ribs and foods vertically, allowing it to cook more than the grate surface area would indicate.

If you’re looking for something which is easy-to-use for a beginner — but it still used by many BBQ competition chefs — and is easy to throw in the bed of your truck and set up when on the go, the Pit Barrel is ideal.

Easy to set up, this smoker is also ideal for beginners who may have struggled with a cheap offset model.

For somebody just starting out with meat smoking, the Pit Barrel Cooker is an ideal choice and very affordable too.

It’s durable, easy-to-use and portable enough to take on your next camping trip, or even a tailgate party. It may not offer the temperature control of other smokers, we definitely don’t advise messing with vents too much.

This absolute monster of a cooker from Oklahoma Joe and Char-Broil does it all—smoke, grill, bake or roast.

It’s one of the few, and one of the best hybrid grills available that features a gas grill, a charcoal grill, and a dedicated offset smoke box.

The Oklahoma Joe comes in a kit form. It’s easy to assemble with just a few tools and all the nuts and bolts provided.

Six porcelain cooking grates are provided with this grill combo. You could be smoking a brisket on one side while still using the other chamber for flipping burgers. You can even use the surface of the firebox to keep food warm.

Weighing 205 pounds, and measuring 74 × 31.5 × 50.6 inches, it offers a total cooking surface area of 1,060 square inches, the largest in this list. This is made up of 750 sq. In primary cooking surface, and 310 sq. In. On the firebox cooking surface.

There are a total of four, 12,000 BTU burners providing great cooking power.

When you entertain for large outdoor parties on a regular basis, the Oklahoma Joe Smoker Combo grill is a perfect choice. It’s a one-stop, do-it-all piece of cooking equipment for your backyard.

For the ultimate outdoor kitchen, it’s hard to beat a smoker combo grill. This model from Char-Broil even allows you to choose between the convenience of gas and taste of charcoal smokers for those purists looking for that unique BBQ taste.

It’s also an excellent smoker with a capacity for larger amounts of meat. Whether you want to quickly grill a steak midweek, or smoke a piece of brisket over the weekend, a smoker combo grill is the way to go.

For many people, a propane smoker will offer a better smoke taste than electric but still avoid the need for messy charcoal.

This extra-large gas smoker from Camp Chef measures 24 × 16 × 30 inches (without legs) and weighs 75 pounds. It arrives fully assembled and comes with two cooking grids and a jerky rack.

It features a wider temperature range than some more limited ones, of between 160 and 350 degrees Fahrenheit, so can even be used to bake pizza, pies or bread.

This is an excellent bit of kit for smoking larger amounts of meat when you don’t have the space required for a larger charcoal smoker, the perfect smoker for small backyards, or even to take traveling where you can hook it up to a gas bottle wherever your fancy takes you.

Removable legs allow it to be counter mounted or freestanding for flexibility, and Camp Chef even includes a guidebook with tips, ideas, and recipes.

This Camp Chef offers all the quick start-up convenience of a gas-powered grill. With a snap ignition, it will quickly come up to a temperature which can be adjusted for the ultimate smoking of meats.

The maximum temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit means you could even use it as a pizza oven.