Comparison of My Vertical Water Smokers: Backwoods G 2 Party Charcoal Smoker, Landmann 38†Gas Smoker and Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24†Gas Smoker
I think that the Backwoods makes the best tasting barbecue, and it holds temperature rock steady, but being a charcoal smoker, it requires the most work. It’s more convenient just to light a gas smoker than to deal with charcoal, particularly when it’s hot in the summer. The Backwoods is a reverse flow vertical smoker. It is built with three walls: The space between the outside wall and center wall is filled with one inch insulation so the heat stays within the unit. There is an air gap between the center wall and the inner wall through which smoke and heat travel from the fire pan in the lower compartment past the water pan up to the top of the cooking chamber. Smoke and heat enter the cooking chamber at the top of the side walls and heat also radiates through the inner walls. The exhaust chimney opening is at the bottom of the back wall, so smoke and heat come down past the food from the top, exit the cooking chamber at the bottom, and then go back up the chimney. This design results in very little difference in heat between the shelves in the smoker.
The dimensions of the coking chamber are 23†deep, 25†tall and 16†wide. It contains six ¼†thick nickel plated cooking racks that are 22†deep and 15.5†wide, spaced 4†apart, giving 2,046 square inches of cooking space. The fire and ash pan are accessed through a separate bottom door. They are on rails for easy loading, and the ash pan can slide out with the fire pan for easy cleaning. The fire pan holds 12 pounds of charcoal. Cooking times are 8 to 12 hours for 12 pounds of charcoal, depending on the temperature used for cooking, after which more charcoal must be added. The removable stainless steel water pan measures 22.5†X 15.5†X 3,†holds about 3.5 gallons when filled to an inch below the top, and covers the entire area below the bottom cooking rack. So all drippings fall into the water pan. It’s good for about 4 hours cooking time at 250 degrees before it will need refilling. Cooking temperatures are 180 – 300 degrees. To go above 300, say for poultry to get a crisp skin take out the water pan, leave the heat diverter in place, and open the dampers wider.
The Backwoods weighs 268 pounds. It had a base price of 2,625 when I bought it in April of 2015. Adding a stainless steel door ($375), wheels ($213), the crate fee ($100), and shipping ($250), gave me a delivered price of $3,563.
The Backwoods came with a Tel-Tru thermometer, which was accurate when tested with my Thermoworks Chef Alarm. Both gas smokers came with inaccurate thermometers. I replaced the red one shown in the photo of the Landmann with a Tel-Tru. For yesterday’s cook with the Smoke Vault, I used my Chef Alarms, one to monitor smoker temperatures and the other to monitor the temperature in the turkey breast. It quickly became obvious that the door thermometer is inaccurate. And it’s not just consistently inaccurate, sometimes it’s 40 degrees too high and other times it’s only 20 degrees too high. But I’m not sure if I can replace this door thermometer with a Tel-Tru because it doesn’t look like a Tel-Tru will fit in place of the existing thermometer. All three smokers require the same amount of work to clean the racks, and water pans, although the gas smokers also have a grease pan to clean, which only takes a few minutes using a steel wool soap pad.
Comparing the two gas smokers, both cook equally well. I don’t remember what I paid for the Landmann when I bought it through Amazon in November of 2014. The Landmann currently has an MSRP of $379.99, but it is available through Amazon for $357.64 with free shipping, but requires that you assemble it. I had to assemble the one I bought. The Smoke Vault has an MSRP $319.99. I bought it through Home Depot for $209.80, with free shipping and assembly plus sales tax, which brought the total to $224.59. The Landmann weighs 103 pounds and the Smoke Vault weighs 75 pounds.
Backwoods Smoker
Landmann Smoker
Meat hooks in ceiling of Landmann smoker
Camp Chef Smoke Vault
Wood pan of Smoke Vault on left and Landmann on right
Water pan on rack in bottom drawer in Landmann
Water pan in cook chamber of Smoke Vault
Water pan of Smoke Vault on left and Landmann on right.
I like the design and size of the Landmann better. It has 5 racks that are 22†X 14†X 4.5†apart. The Smoke Vault has 5 slots for racks that are 3.25†apart, and came with 3, one of which is a mesh rack for jerky or shellfish. The racks are 21.5†X 14â€. I bought 2 additional racks for about $25 plus shipping. The height of the cooking chamber in the Landmann is 25†compared to 19.5†in the Smoke Vault. So the cooking area in the Landmann is greater than the Smoke Vault. The Landmann has 9 meat hooks in the cooking chamber ceiling from which to hang sausage or possibly racks of ribs. Also the Landmann’s water pan and wood pan are larger than the Smoke Vault’s, and the Smoke Vault wood pan has no lid. The Landmann wood pan has a vented lid which lengthens the smoking time. I haven’t compared the amount of water the water pans hold in each smoker, but it appears as if the water pan in the Landmann holds more than the Smoke Vault. Cooking at 275 degrees, yesterday I had to refill the water pan in the Smoke Vault after two-and-a-half hours, while the Landmann is good for 3-and-a-half hours cooking at 275. I also like it that the water and wood pans on the Landmann are held on racks in drawers separate from the cooking chamber, so it doesn’t have to be opened when adding water or wood, which is not the case with the Smoke Vault. The stainless steel door on the Smoke Vault closes with a handle latch while the Landmann has magnetic door closure. The door on the Landmann sometimes popped open during cooking, but that was easily remedied with a bungee cord attached to the door and side handle. Both smokers have burners that are 18,000 BTUs but the temperature range for the Landmann is about 200 – 350 degrees, while the Smoke Vault is 160 – 400 degrees. The higher temperature range of the Smoke Vault is probably due to its smaller cooking chamber. The rotary igniter on the Landmann starts the burner on the first try every time, but the Smoke Vault often has to be repeated once or twice. Here are photos of all three smokers.
I think that the Backwoods makes the best tasting barbecue, and it holds temperature rock steady, but being a charcoal smoker, it requires the most work. It’s more convenient just to light a gas smoker than to deal with charcoal, particularly when it’s hot in the summer. The Backwoods is a reverse flow vertical smoker. It is built with three walls: The space between the outside wall and center wall is filled with one inch insulation so the heat stays within the unit. There is an air gap between the center wall and the inner wall through which smoke and heat travel from the fire pan in the lower compartment past the water pan up to the top of the cooking chamber. Smoke and heat enter the cooking chamber at the top of the side walls and heat also radiates through the inner walls. The exhaust chimney opening is at the bottom of the back wall, so smoke and heat come down past the food from the top, exit the cooking chamber at the bottom, and then go back up the chimney. This design results in very little difference in heat between the shelves in the smoker.
The dimensions of the coking chamber are 23†deep, 25†tall and 16†wide. It contains six ¼†thick nickel plated cooking racks that are 22†deep and 15.5†wide, spaced 4†apart, giving 2,046 square inches of cooking space. The fire and ash pan are accessed through a separate bottom door. They are on rails for easy loading, and the ash pan can slide out with the fire pan for easy cleaning. The fire pan holds 12 pounds of charcoal. Cooking times are 8 to 12 hours for 12 pounds of charcoal, depending on the temperature used for cooking, after which more charcoal must be added. The removable stainless steel water pan measures 22.5†X 15.5†X 3,†holds about 3.5 gallons when filled to an inch below the top, and covers the entire area below the bottom cooking rack. So all drippings fall into the water pan. It’s good for about 4 hours cooking time at 250 degrees before it will need refilling. Cooking temperatures are 180 – 300 degrees. To go above 300, say for poultry to get a crisp skin take out the water pan, leave the heat diverter in place, and open the dampers wider.
The Backwoods weighs 268 pounds. It had a base price of 2,625 when I bought it in April of 2015. Adding a stainless steel door ($375), wheels ($213), the crate fee ($100), and shipping ($250), gave me a delivered price of $3,563.
The Backwoods came with a Tel-Tru thermometer, which was accurate when tested with my Thermoworks Chef Alarm. Both gas smokers came with inaccurate thermometers. I replaced the red one shown in the photo of the Landmann with a Tel-Tru. For yesterday’s cook with the Smoke Vault, I used my Chef Alarms, one to monitor smoker temperatures and the other to monitor the temperature in the turkey breast. It quickly became obvious that the door thermometer is inaccurate. And it’s not just consistently inaccurate, sometimes it’s 40 degrees too high and other times it’s only 20 degrees too high. But I’m not sure if I can replace this door thermometer with a Tel-Tru because it doesn’t look like a Tel-Tru will fit in place of the existing thermometer. All three smokers require the same amount of work to clean the racks, and water pans, although the gas smokers also have a grease pan to clean, which only takes a few minutes using a steel wool soap pad.
Comparing the two gas smokers, both cook equally well. I don’t remember what I paid for the Landmann when I bought it through Amazon in November of 2014. The Landmann currently has an MSRP of $379.99, but it is available through Amazon for $357.64 with free shipping, but requires that you assemble it. I had to assemble the one I bought. The Smoke Vault has an MSRP $319.99. I bought it through Home Depot for $209.80, with free shipping and assembly plus sales tax, which brought the total to $224.59. The Landmann weighs 103 pounds and the Smoke Vault weighs 75 pounds.
Backwoods Smoker
Landmann Smoker
Meat hooks in ceiling of Landmann smoker
Camp Chef Smoke Vault
Wood pan of Smoke Vault on left and Landmann on right
Water pan on rack in bottom drawer in Landmann
Water pan in cook chamber of Smoke Vault
Water pan of Smoke Vault on left and Landmann on right.
I like the design and size of the Landmann better. It has 5 racks that are 22†X 14†X 4.5†apart. The Smoke Vault has 5 slots for racks that are 3.25†apart, and came with 3, one of which is a mesh rack for jerky or shellfish. The racks are 21.5†X 14â€. I bought 2 additional racks for about $25 plus shipping. The height of the cooking chamber in the Landmann is 25†compared to 19.5†in the Smoke Vault. So the cooking area in the Landmann is greater than the Smoke Vault. The Landmann has 9 meat hooks in the cooking chamber ceiling from which to hang sausage or possibly racks of ribs. Also the Landmann’s water pan and wood pan are larger than the Smoke Vault’s, and the Smoke Vault wood pan has no lid. The Landmann wood pan has a vented lid which lengthens the smoking time. I haven’t compared the amount of water the water pans hold in each smoker, but it appears as if the water pan in the Landmann holds more than the Smoke Vault. Cooking at 275 degrees, yesterday I had to refill the water pan in the Smoke Vault after two-and-a-half hours, while the Landmann is good for 3-and-a-half hours cooking at 275. I also like it that the water and wood pans on the Landmann are held on racks in drawers separate from the cooking chamber, so it doesn’t have to be opened when adding water or wood, which is not the case with the Smoke Vault. The stainless steel door on the Smoke Vault closes with a handle latch while the Landmann has magnetic door closure. The door on the Landmann sometimes popped open during cooking, but that was easily remedied with a bungee cord attached to the door and side handle. Both smokers have burners that are 18,000 BTUs but the temperature range for the Landmann is about 200 – 350 degrees, while the Smoke Vault is 160 – 400 degrees. The higher temperature range of the Smoke Vault is probably due to its smaller cooking chamber. The rotary igniter on the Landmann starts the burner on the first try every time, but the Smoke Vault often has to be repeated once or twice. Here are photos of all three smokers.
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