Weber Smokey Mountain® Cooker 18.5 inch Smoker

The best thing about the Weber 721001 Smokey Mountain cooker range is that it happens to have a lot of capacity even if you're getting the smallest model which measures in at about 18 1/2 inches across its diameter. To give you an idea of how much food you can stuff into an 18 1/2 inch cabinet just read the headline on this paragraph. I have myself managed to cook a full sized Turkey, a side of ham as well as two roast chickens simultaneously without any problems whatsoever. The results were tender and reminded me of the food that my grandmother used to make quite long time ago. To me, that is definitely the benchmark for how authentic and traditional smokehouse taste and flavor of a Weber Smokey Mountain cooker is.

For everybody who happens to like the throwback design of the 80s as far as outdoor cooking appliances are concerned, Weber really is the one brand that you can trust to bring out the best as far as aesthetics go. Not only does this charcoal food smoker remind you of the good old cast-iron food smokers of the days gone by at the fact that it manages to utilize this design to provide better ventilation for the meat is truly amazing. In my opinion, it is the optimally designed ventilation that easily lets you slow cook your meat for hours on end.

As far as the materials from which this charcoal food smoker cooker is made, you're looking at a masterpiece of engineering which happens to make use of stainless steel which has been coated with varying densities of porcelain as far as the body of the unit is concerned. Not only does this make the exterior of the Weber Smokey Mountain cooker pretty much resistant to scratches and stains, what it also does is provide a protective layer for the metal underneath so that the elements just can't ruin your cooker for you. I usually take good care of my cooking equipment but once I ended up leaving the food smoker out in the backyard during the Super Bowl of 2009. Unfortunately for me, that was when the universe decided that it was time for the first broad storm in Texas. When I came back I was worried about the smoker cooker but all I had to do was hose it down with cold water using the same pipe that I use to water my garden and suddenly my good trusty old Weber food smoker emerged.

One of the most common problems that you have with large food smokers is that they often look like a porta potty that was dipped in a metal bath but the porcelain coated Smokey Mountain smoker cookers are truly a class apart. There is a lot of room in it for larger birds like turkeys which is something that you don't appreciate until you realize that the Thanksgiving blog party is supposed to be at your place.

The nickel plated cooking grates really cut down on the time that it takes to smoke your meat properly and since they are pretty much impossible to wear down even for extended periods of cooking you will appreciate the fact that there is no metal in your meat! After the fiasco of 2008 where it was discovered that most of the cast-iron charcoal grills were depositing ferrous oxide into the meat they should definitely come as a relief to everybody.

The Weber company has been selling outdoor grilling and barbecuing equipment in the United States for more than 50 years and unlike other grill makers that have gone the way of the dodo (pun intended - apparently they were all deep-fried!) Weber has managed to stay in business. The reason that this is the case is because they are constantly innovating with the kind of products that they have and they really make it easy for you to become a repeat customer with their exceptional customer service that is 2nd to none.

1. The door for adding charcoal as well as wooden biscuits if that is what you like to the unit has been made significantly larger which is something that a man with big and the like me appreciates. Instead of gently placing each lump of coal into the grill you cannot dump them in with a large pan.

2. The new door latch on this model closes and opens automatically with a gentle touch and unlike the problem is that the older model had with the knobs that was securing the door coming loose sometimes nothing of the sort happens with the new Weber Smokey Mountain smoker cooker.

3. The built-in thermometer is truly something that everybody who has been using food smoker for a long time will appreciate. Unlike thermometer is almost of the grills and smokers available today, this one has prongs that go directly into the meat which gives you an accurate reading from outside without having to turn of the food smoker and check the temperature at regular intervals.

4. The heat resistant nylon handle on this model is placed in a better location than on the previous one and it really makes checking on the state of your meat easy. While the built-in thermometer will give you a good idea of the temperature inside the grill, it might take some time to figure out at what temperature your preferred meat manages to give of the same aroma that grandmas smoked chicken was able to manage.