18″ Weber Smokey Mountain Charcoal Smoker

18″ Weber Smokey Mountain Charcoal Smoker

There isn’t much I enjoy more about summer than getting my charcoal smoker ready to work some magic on baby back ribs and a pork butt and having friends and family over for a cookout.

Electric smokers are unquestionably more convenient and forgiving. You can literally be lying in bed and raise or lower the temperature of an electric smoker from an app on your phone. While you can get very good, consistent results from an electric smoker, there’s simply comparison to the flavor of charcoal. Is the extra work and attention worth it? Yes, it is!

Weber sells this smoker in three different sizes: 14″, 18″, and 22.” I believe that the 18″ model – which was the original – is the best option for the majority of people considering a smoker.

Avoid the 14″ – is too small to smoke ribs without having to cut them up and you won’t be able to smoke a larger brisket without having it touch the sides, i.e. burning it.

The 22″ is good for those who regularly host large gatherings, however I have never felt like I didn’t have enough capacity with the 18″ even when feeding 20+ guests. The 22″ doesn’t sound like it’s much larger than the 18″, but the added room it will take up in your garage is considerable. Another downside with buying a larger size than you need is the amount of charcoal you’ll go through. You’ll still need almost an entire bag of briquets even when you’re only smoking a couple racks of ribs.

With the 18″, you can smoke three racks of ribs on the top rack and two large pork butts on the bottom. I can also do ribs on the top, with a brisket and a pork butt on the bottom. An 18″ smoker loaded up with meat can feed a lot of people!

While it comes with a thermometer built into the dome, keep in mind that this is simply the temperature at the top of the dome. This isn’t nearly as useful as knowing the internal temperature of the meat, which you measure with a probe thermometer. Weber added a convenient rubber grommet in the side of the body a few years back specifically for this so that you don’t have to compromise the seal of the lid with your wire. While you can get away with making ribs without an electric thermometer, you’ll want one for sure if you’re doing thicker cuts such as pork butts and especially for a less-forgiving brisket. You don’t want to ruin a $50 brisket because you were too cheap to buy a thermometer.

Minimal assembly is required. I did have an issue with the lip of the lid being slightly out of round out of the box, but I believe this was a one-off issue. For a $300+ smoker that I planned to have for many years to come, I expected the lid to mate up better with the body. I contacted Weber, who promptly sent a new lid via UPS. The new lid fit perfectly.

If you like Weber’s Original Kettle Premium Grill (I have two of the 22″ models), you will love this smoker for all of the same reasons. There is a reason that the competition’s imitations sell for half as much. You’re getting much thicker and higher quality steel with the Weber.

The combination of a Smokey Mountain and a Kettle Premium grill will let you pull off the ultimate barbecue or cookout – ribs, pulled pork, brisket, burgers, brats, and hot dogs all in the same day using only basic pieces of equipment.