Suppose someone offered to buy you any Backwoods or any Lang smoker you want, and they would pay all costs, for the smoker, applicable sales taxes, shipping costs to your house, etc. Which would you choose? Backwoods or Lang? Please give the reasons for your choice.
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Backwoods or Lang?
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Great Question
For me it would probably be between a Lang 60 or 84 Deluxe with some customization or a Backwoods Professional.
The Backwoods is a great choice if you want convenience and like verticals. They also have a much smaller footprint and use an easily available fuel source extremely efficiently. There are a lot of advantages there with those features.
The Lang... well it is a stick (log) burner and there is just something about stick burners that is hard to beat. There are advantages to being able to spread meat out and it just stack it. It has other features like the charcoal grill and rib rack plus some special customizations I would want. It does require more attention (which some folks love especially tending the fire), it takes up a lot more real estate, and you need a truck to haul it around.
ADVANTAGE: Lang! There is just something about an offset tank style stick burner that (IMHO) screams BBQ more so than a cabinet Cooker (not saying I wouldn’t take one of offered) but if I had a choice it would probably be the Lang. Also mostly because I am dying to get a large pull behind stick burner right now.
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Club Member
- Apr 2018
- 1633
- the LOU
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Cookers:
22" Blackstone Griddle, with stand & hood
CharGriller Portable Firebox - so modified you'll BLOL
Kitchenaid #810 Charcoal Grill - highly modified
Weber BI-code Black Performer w/Igniter
Weber DE-code Red Limited - 'Lucille'
Accessories:
Ancient heavy CI Propane Turkey Fryer, for lighting chimneys
BBQ Dragon kettle shelves - 2
Fyre Dragon Kettle Drippin' Ring, Burnin' Cone & Drippin' Pan - 2 sets
Fyre Dragon Kettle Ribbin' Ring
Fyre Dragon Kettle 2-Zone Smokin' Sheet
OneGrill Rotisserie for the Kitchenaid
Smokenator
Smoking Tubes: 2x12" & 1x6"
SnS
Weber Gourmet Grill w/Griddle, Pizza Stone & Wok
My Helpers:
Anova 900W Sous Vide Cooker w/Radios
Instant Pot 6Q Duo
Nesco Tabletop Roaster
& the PIT!
I agree with Nate , which is why I would take the Backwoods. I have all the cookers you could want that need tending. So, a set it and mostly forget it efficient vertical with a small footprint would be a welcome change for those times when I actually am busy but still want the Q.
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Club Member
- Nov 2017
- 7086
- Huntsville, Alabama
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Jim Morris
Cookers- Slow 'N Sear Deluxe Kamado (2021)
- Camp Chef FTG900 Flat Top Grill (2020)
- Weber Genesis II E-410 w/ GrillGrates (2019)
- Weber Performer Deluxe 22.5" w/ GrillGrates & Slow 'N Sear & Drip N Griddle & Vortex & Party Q & Rotisserie (2007)
- Custom Built Offset Smoker (304SS, 22"x34" grate, circa 1985)
- King Kooker 94/90TKD 105K/60K dual burner patio stove
- Lodge L8D03 5 quart dutch oven
- Lodge L10SK3 12" skillet
- Anova
- Thermoworks Smoke w/ Wifi Gateway
- Thermoworks Dot
- Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
- Thermoworks RT600C
- Weber Connect
- Whatever I brewed and have on tap!
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Backwoods: The advantages of the BW is that most models have a small footprint and can be transported much easier than an offset. That's key if you live in a condo or just don't want your grill or smoker to take up a lot of real estate in your backyard. For this reason they are preferred by guys who compete in BBQ contests. Their size, efficiency, and consistency. Also, if you live up north where ambient temps can swing or dip down to freezing then the BW is better insulated. It runs on charcoal, which is easier to store and less expensive than wood, and is super efficient. The cooker design ensures that your cook chamber temps are going to be the same throughout, so you won't be able to cook some meats hot and fast and others low and slow at the same time like you could in a traditional offset.
Lang: On the other hand, the Lang is a reverse flow so you don't get the benefit of cooking on different zones like you would with a traditional offset either, but you do get to cook with logs and that is pure BBQ heaven for the guy who has trouble sitting still during his cook. The RF design with the baffle creates smoke in the chamber when the drippings hit the baffle and "sizzle". Serious flavor. Be warned, though, that you'll need a place to store your cooker and will also need real estate for a half a cord+ of wood. You want to store and season your own, and my offset is heavy, hard to move, and takes up a lot of space. I have a RF made by Shirley Fabrication. You can also cook a lot of meat on your offset, and some come with a warming box which gives you the option to use it as a smoker (fish and jerky), warming box, or as an additional grill/cook chamber. They can be portable, but you'll need to buy a trailer model, and those take up more space than the patio models.
Bottom line? If you are a set and forget kind of guy who wants consistent results every time and fantasize about traveling with your cooker then the Backwoods is for you. If you love tinkering with your fire, have the space to store wood, and enjoy the challenge of cooking with wood to reach the ultimate in BBQ flavor (with the associated risk that not every batch will be the same) then the Lang is for you. You can travel with your Lang if you get a trailer version, but again, you're talking a bigger cooker.
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