Many hot smokers exist across the world; I’ve used all of them and want to break down each to help those interested.
All hot smokers cook and smoke at the same time. Temperature, heat direction, size, insulation, and fuel types are just some of the factors I’ve analyzed over the decades.
I get asked a lot what the easiest to operate is, so here is
There are now a variety of designs available.
Various factors determine how easy a smoker is to use. You may have different criteria, but I have attempted to list the most logical to make comparing smoker types easy.
Five hot smokers to use that I will cover in detail:
- Pellet grill smoker
- Electric smoker
- Gas smoker
- Kettle / Drum Style Smoker
- Portable Smoker
Below, I’ll cover portable smokers, which are easy to use. They are designed for short, intense, hot smoking. Small batches are the best use for these, whether for smoking, camping, or fishing.
Tasty fish fillets are simple and can be made with a portable smoker.
Different Easy-to-Use Use Hot Smokers
Each smoker is set against the same criteria.
Pellet Grill Smoker
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | 10/10 |
| Temperature Control | 10/10 |
| Smoker Fuel Type | Electricity |
| Size of Smoker | Moderate |
| Weight of Smoker | Moderate |
| Grill Function | Yes |
| Water Pan | No |
| Drip Pan | Yes |
| Ease of Cleaning | Moderate |
| Types of Wood | Pellet only |
Generally, you’re investing more in the automation and design of a pellet smoker grill. This is the most straightforward set-and-forget design you will come across.
Wood pellets are auto-fed into a burning pot – it’s electrically controlled via a thermostat to maintain typical indirect hot smoking temperatures.
The digital thermostat certainly does make hot smoking simple.
The grill option works well and gives the pellet smoker a new dimension. You can BBQ or bake whatever you want on these.
Since this is so simple to use, some purists are not interested. For many folks into Low and Slow indirect hot smoking, the lack of managing the heat and airflow is not appealing to them.
Since the design will mean a specific direct heat area, it won’t cover the entire grilling area at the same temperature.
The cost of food grade wood pellets is the most expensive fuel/wood source for hot smoking.
The market has many brands now – Traeger, Weber, Green Mountain Grill, Campchef, Pitboss, and dozens more.
Electric Smokers
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | Wood chip, pellet, sawdust |
| Temperature Control | 10/10 (if it has a thermostat) |
| Smoker Fuel Type | Electricity |
| Size of Smoker | Compact-Moderate |
| Weight of Smoker | Light-Moderate |
| Grill Function | No |
| Water Pan | Yes |
| Drip Pan | Yes |
| Ease of Cleaning | Easy |
| Types of Wood | Various – Wood chip, pellet, saw dust |
You may want an electric smoker because they are easy to use and quite a reasonably priced starting point.
The thermostat control model I use makes this set & forget. Depending on the price, analog or digital thermostat control types exist.
As with any smoker, insulation is essential, but with a thermostat, it’s not so relevant if it does an excellent job of keeping the temperature in a particular range.
I use the electric smoker more often because it is so easy to set up and
The design doesn’t have to be heavy-duty thick metal, which is needed for offset charcoal smokers to manage the heat more effectively.
Since there is a delayed effect when fuel is added and the resulting temperature increases.
You do have to have electricity, which shouldn’t be an issue. These can also be run off a generator.
My electric smoker has a wood-burning area; you load more wood from the outside. It’s a slide-in and slide-out feeder. This is a feature you want to make it easier. Here is a summary I wrote about my smoking.
You will need to replenish wood for long smoking sessions. Depending on the model, this may only need to be done every 4-6 hours. When I do smoked salmon, for instance, it’s done in 1/5 to 3 hours with no added wood.
Generally, electric smokers can be considered portable. Many people like to unplug it, put it in a car or truck, and take it away to the holiday home.
Some people even use a lump or 2 of charcoal in the burning area for a specific flavor angle.
Wood-heated hot smokers can provide moisture due to some moisture in the wood; propane based smokers or indirect hot smoking on a regular grill can create a smoking environment that is quite dry.
Water pans can add moisture inside the hot smoking chamber.
Gas or Propane Smoker
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | 9/10 |
| Temperature Control | 9/10 |
| Smoker Fuel Type | propane |
| Size of Smoker | Compact – Moderate |
| Weight of Smoker | Light – Moderate |
| Grill Function | No |
| Water Pan | Yes (Generally) |
| Drip Pan | Yes |
| Ease of Cleaning | Easy |
| Types of Wood | Pellet, chips, sawdust |
Once the gauge and control are set, they don’t take much operating time. The only thing you need to do is add wood for smoking every 3-5 hours, depending on the type of wood you use.
Like the electric hot smoker, these are oven-designed with racks. They also tend to be portable. You can take the gas bottle & the smoker anywhere.
Some say there is a ham-style taste that comes from gas smokers that some people prefer. I presume this has something to do with the combustion aspects, and as mentioned they run drier cooking/smoking chambers.
Kettle / Drum Style Smoker
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | 7/10 |
| Temperature Control | 8/10 |
| Smoker Fuel Type | Charcoal |
| Size of Smoker | moderate-large |
| Weight of Smoker | moderate |
| Grill Function | Yes |
| Water Pan | No |
| Drip Pan | Yes |
| Ease of Cleaning | Easy |
| Types of Wood | Any |
One of the most common hot smokers is used for Low and Slow style, since the outlay cost is rather low. The technology is simple: it’s basically a seal bowl with controlled airflow in and out of it.
The main 2 methods of running a cooking or smoking session are having the charcoal heat on one side, with some wood chunks on top, and the meat or foods on the other side.
For kettles and drums the above method is similar, the drum is about having the charcoal heat further away from the food/meat but vertically above it. Therefore, often drum hot smoking is about hanging the meat – although some brands do have grills as well.
The second style for longer lower temperature cooking/smoking (200-250F) is often called the ‘snake’ method, which involved burning charcoal in a domino style chain. Each peice of charcoal igniting along the chain, with wood to smoke the food strategically placed on the chain.
I’ve used these often, they also allow for direct heat searing or cooking with charcoal or wood logs.
More involved, but the purists love them!
Bullet smokers are another variation of this vertical drum style smoker.
Portable Box Smoker
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | 7 /10 |
| Temperature Control | 8/10 |
| Smoker Fuel Type | Gas, Electricity, Open fire |
| Size of Smoker | Compact |
| Weight of Smoker | Light |
| Grill Function | No |
| Water Pan | No |
| Drip Pan | No |
| Ease of Cleaning | Easy |
| Types of Wood | Pellet, chips, saw dust |
This is not indirect low & slow smoking. You have a small grill inside using direct heat from below the smoker. Place the smoking wood in the box, then place the grill on. The meat (fish, generally) goes on the metal grill.
I have used the portable smoker for wild turkey breasts, trout, sea fish and they came out fantastic. I also used a wireless thermometer to make temperature control a little easier.
This is a decent option if you want something portable and easy for camping or fishing. Less dense meat works very well.
These are incredibly simple in terms of design. However, they are suitable for short, hot smoking like fish or other less dense meat or food.
This often gets confused with the smokers listed below. I am talking about a portable smoker with food and wood in the same chamber. It is also directly heated from underneath via a BBQ burner or source of heat (i.e., gas & electric)
I have found these work great for camping, especially fishing trips.
Often salt cured lightly and left for form a pellicle – most hot smoking I do in a portable takes less then 15 minutes. For fish fillets, the fillets are never more then 2″ thick.
Ceramic Egg Smokers
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | 8 /10 |
| Temperature Control | 9/10 |
| Smoker Fuel Type | Charcoal |
| Size of Smoker | Large |
| Weight of Smoker | Heavy |
| Grill Function | Yes |
| Water Pan | No |
| Drip Pan | No |
| Ease of Cleaning | Easy |
| Types of Wood | Any |
The ceramic egg shaped hot smoker has quite alot in common with the kettle style smoker. The main difference is that it has a ceramic structure, with a insulatoion seal often inbetweem the lid.
Out of all the smokers I’ve used, the egg smokers have the tightest airflow control, cooking area is often reduced due to the thick structure however.
What quite impressive, is that it can go to very extreme temperatures in terms of searing hot pizza done in 2 minutes. Through to, holding a low temperature of 150F if desired.
Although, it looks rather odd to many folks, its a bit of a beast in my opinion, often a decent investment as well.
Offset Horizontal Smokers
| Factor | Rating |
|---|---|
| Easy to Use / Set & Forget | 7 /10 |
| Temperature Control | 9/10 |
| Smoker Fuel Type | Charcoal or Only Wood |
| Size of Smoker | Large |
| Weight of Smoker | Heavy |
| Grill Function | Yes |
| Water Pan | No |
| Drip Pan | No |
| Ease of Cleaning | Easy |
| Types of Wood | Any |
You have one chamber for burning the wood/charcoal, and another for the food/meat cooking area – some baffles may be in place to control heat/smoke.
Then brands vary the quality greatly like many of the styles mentioned, this is the purists choice, since many low and slow smokehouses run this style of setup with pure wood combustion.
If the smoker has tight airflow control, then you can kinda have the ultimate flavor for hot smoked low and slow style. However, the choice/quality/moisture of wood log chunk, how the heat management is done – will have a mega effect on the outcomes.
Probably by far the hardest style hot smoking, low and slow style.
Expert Tips
Amount of Wood for Portable Smokers
Go easy on the wood you put in a portable smoker; it doesn’t need much since everything is packed together tightly in the box.
It can provide a light smoke flavor of food inside the BBQ. A hinge helps a lot since you can use metal tongs to open it easily.
Expert Tip – Adding Smoke
Pellet tube & maze smokers are another simple tool you can use on a propane grill to add smoke flavor. Technically, they can be used for BBQ hot smoking and cold smoking. They can often add smoke to many smokers or chamber rather easily.
These can produce plenty of smoke. Maze smokers need to be lit and smolder away happily. I do find that you have to keep an eye on these; they are great inventions.
Please find further details here if you want to read more.
What is the Best Smoker for the Money?
Many electric/propane smokers will be a cost-effective option for smoking. For less convenience, vertical charcoal barrel smokers will also be a cost-effective option. Barrel smokers will be involved in more fire and wood smoke management.
Do you Soak Wood Chips in an Electric Smoker?
It has been proven that it slightly decreases the time until combustion starts. This does not serve as a benefit when smoking food. The wood will steam for some time and then create the smoke.
Which Hot Smoker Should I Start With?
Electric, Propane, and Pellet Grill smokers are the easiest to operate. The kettle style smokers are cost effective, more management is involved however they are versatile in many ways and styles of cooking and smoking.
What Smoker Creates the Most Smoke Flavor?
Often is the time food is in meat, whether pellicles form on meat and airflow that effect how much the smoke vapor adheres to the food.
If you are following the above advice, then you should be able to follow a decent recipe and conjure up beautiful smoked flavors. If you want more information on one easy smoking option, please click here.
If you want more information on universal wood and the wood sizes that fit many smoking projects, please find the link here.
Tom Mueller
For decades, immersed in studying, working, learning, and teaching the craft of meat curing, sharing the passion and showcasing the world of charcuterie and smoked meat. Read More