I recently got a brinkman offset smoker for free. I've used in a couple of times with great results. I did a brisket once and a pork but once both turned with a great bark and awesome smoke flavor. The obvious problem is that the smoker is highly enivecent and has to be constatly checked to keep a consistent temp. For a 12 plus hour smoke it takes a ton of time. So I've been looking into pellet smokers, but I'm reading that pellet smokers do not provide as much smoke flavor to the meat as an offset smoker, but the convenience of a pellet smoker is very intriguing. Now I really like smokey meat! So I guessing I'm looking for the best of both worlds, flavor of an offset, but convenience of a pellet. Does this even exist and if it does what pellet smokers should I look into? I see Camp Chef and Traeger seem to get the best reviews.
I have a Camp Chef and I have had a Traeger. They perform similarly but the CC is a far better value in my opinion. These are not High end, WiFi, WAAS enabled, Fish ID, Stereophonic sound units, but just good solid performers. Pellet smokers will not give deep smoky flavor if you are just cooking the meat with the pellets. It will have a nice mild (to me) smoke flavor to accent the meat. If you want more smoke then start the meat for a couple hours on one of the "smoke" settings and then cook low and slow. I spray the meat with a mix of apple cider and vinegar during the "smoke" cycle to keep it moist and soaking up the smoke flavor. You can also experiment with different pellets. One thing I don't like is the char burnt creosote flavor that so many end up with using wood/charcoal smokers. Cabelas and Bass Pro have their version made for them by CC that can occasionally be found on sale. If I get another pellet smoker that is what I probably will get.
Smoke is definitely lacking on a pellet unit. I use a smoke tube to add extra smoke during the cook or like metalcuttr said keep it on the smoke setting for a bit before turning it up to a cooking temp. I thought I read something about a new smoke enhancing seting on traegers website.
Yes, actually I have two of them tubes... I use them especially for good chunks of meat... to really set the smoke. I dont like the 160 F setting (which is suppose to be my smoke setting on mine)... basically my understanding is it runs for 15 seconds and then off for x time... rinse repeat...I get temperature spikes this way. So I set mine on 160F to get it started, once smoke sets in. I turn it up to 180F, which uses the probe (mine is the analog vs the newer PID systems) for output...
The pellet smoker is great to set it and walk away. The wood smoker probably offers more flavor but at the price of constant supervision. The Big Green Egg and similar smokers are charcoal, wood fired and need less supervision but still needs tended to. My pellet smoker is low maintenance and gets rave reviews. Find the combo that works for you. I like to smoke food and do other activities.