Well this post has been a long time coming. I apologize for the length of the post, but there is a lot to tell.
Back in June I finally had saved up enough to place the order for a Jambo Backyard offset smoker – 24†diameter x 48†long cook chamber, insulated fire box, 500 pounds. As many of you know, it is one very nice smoker from one of the most respected brands. I will admit thinking about their larger porch model, but the Backyard is really big already and actually fits perfectly in our back yard.
Okay, back to the story. When I ordered it, Jamie Geer was still in the process of fabricating the set of Backyards, so it would be shipped in mid-July. My wife had been talking for a long time about redoing our very small back yard, tearing up the weeds and putting in a brick patio instead. Looking online, I estimated it would take a long weekend, maybe two weekends, of work assuming I got help. Well, I did get help, we started in late June to get ready for the smoker, and finished in… late August I think. It took a full two months of working most weekends. Ugh. However, it turned out very nicely if I do say so myself. We got a bunch of outdoor furniture and spent the remainder of the nice weather eating outside, and it is very pleasant.
The smoker did arrive in July, and it is a beast. When it came though, after taking the packaging off my wife noticed a bunch of scratches and paint scuffs all around the smoker. I tried to ignore them, not wanting my enthusiasm to be dampened and wanting to start cooking on it right away. She convinced me though that since we paid so much for shipping, we got insurance, and we will pass this on to my great grandkids, we should follow up with insurance and maybe get it repainted. So it lived a sad life in our garage while I filed a claim with the shipper and the organizer, talked to a claims representative at UPS who said they would have an answer for me by Labor Day, and then they proceeded to not answer the phone or return my call until I got denied two months later. Thankfully, right after that decision, the organizer’s insurance got back to me that they would write me a check. I sanded and painted it that weekend, which was two weeks ago. Below are pictures of it being offloaded and the worst of the scratches.
Last week the task was hauling it into the back yard and getting it set up in its new home. Even though it is 500 pounds, I was able to do almost all of the moving myself. It got stuck for a few days on some mulch, and took on some rain water. I have to figure out how to get a little rust out from the inside of the barrel. As you can see from the pictures below, it fits nicely in its little outpost. I had to take off one end of the canopy we got to cover it so that I can open the fire box door, and I had to wedge in multiple strips of plywood under the legs to level it out.
So finally, as of this past weekend, I have a Jambo! My first cook after burning it out was ribs with Huskee’s rib rub (aka sugar ribs as my wife calls them). I read a ton about stick burning and was very proud to have thin blue smoke for the duration! I have already learned a lot, such as what temperature I need to add wood at, my chimney doesn’t fit nicely in the firebox so no more charcoal to start it, how much wood it takes (more than I thought), and the exhaust stack is actually fully closed when the handle points straight up, not fully open. That last one led to an hour of frustration pre-cook, but it’s all good. The ribs turned out awesome, and I’m really looking forward to having this compliment my PBC and kettle+SnS for when I have the time. This Friday – multiple pork shoulders for us and the neighbors!
Back in June I finally had saved up enough to place the order for a Jambo Backyard offset smoker – 24†diameter x 48†long cook chamber, insulated fire box, 500 pounds. As many of you know, it is one very nice smoker from one of the most respected brands. I will admit thinking about their larger porch model, but the Backyard is really big already and actually fits perfectly in our back yard.
Okay, back to the story. When I ordered it, Jamie Geer was still in the process of fabricating the set of Backyards, so it would be shipped in mid-July. My wife had been talking for a long time about redoing our very small back yard, tearing up the weeds and putting in a brick patio instead. Looking online, I estimated it would take a long weekend, maybe two weekends, of work assuming I got help. Well, I did get help, we started in late June to get ready for the smoker, and finished in… late August I think. It took a full two months of working most weekends. Ugh. However, it turned out very nicely if I do say so myself. We got a bunch of outdoor furniture and spent the remainder of the nice weather eating outside, and it is very pleasant.
The smoker did arrive in July, and it is a beast. When it came though, after taking the packaging off my wife noticed a bunch of scratches and paint scuffs all around the smoker. I tried to ignore them, not wanting my enthusiasm to be dampened and wanting to start cooking on it right away. She convinced me though that since we paid so much for shipping, we got insurance, and we will pass this on to my great grandkids, we should follow up with insurance and maybe get it repainted. So it lived a sad life in our garage while I filed a claim with the shipper and the organizer, talked to a claims representative at UPS who said they would have an answer for me by Labor Day, and then they proceeded to not answer the phone or return my call until I got denied two months later. Thankfully, right after that decision, the organizer’s insurance got back to me that they would write me a check. I sanded and painted it that weekend, which was two weeks ago. Below are pictures of it being offloaded and the worst of the scratches.
Last week the task was hauling it into the back yard and getting it set up in its new home. Even though it is 500 pounds, I was able to do almost all of the moving myself. It got stuck for a few days on some mulch, and took on some rain water. I have to figure out how to get a little rust out from the inside of the barrel. As you can see from the pictures below, it fits nicely in its little outpost. I had to take off one end of the canopy we got to cover it so that I can open the fire box door, and I had to wedge in multiple strips of plywood under the legs to level it out.
So finally, as of this past weekend, I have a Jambo! My first cook after burning it out was ribs with Huskee’s rib rub (aka sugar ribs as my wife calls them). I read a ton about stick burning and was very proud to have thin blue smoke for the duration! I have already learned a lot, such as what temperature I need to add wood at, my chimney doesn’t fit nicely in the firebox so no more charcoal to start it, how much wood it takes (more than I thought), and the exhaust stack is actually fully closed when the handle points straight up, not fully open. That last one led to an hour of frustration pre-cook, but it’s all good. The ribs turned out awesome, and I’m really looking forward to having this compliment my PBC and kettle+SnS for when I have the time. This Friday – multiple pork shoulders for us and the neighbors!
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