Went To Academy Today…Lookey What I Found! …#2 Will Shock You! 😳

[Panhead John]

Sorry folks, I’m working on my click bait. 😂 I found that Academy Sports and Outdoors is now carrying a line of “Old Country BBQ Pits” offset smokers and an Argentinian Style Grill. They call it a Vaquero Open Fire Grill. With all the hoopla here recently about Argentine style cookers, I thought some people might be interested in this. It looks to be a mid priced, entry level cooker, $450. From playing around with it a little, it felt pretty sturdy and might be a great way for someone to get into this type of cooking without dropping a lot of dough. Is there a difference in Santa Maria cookers and this Vaquero? I’m not sure. 🧐 They both raise and lower the cooking grate is all I know. An employee said they’ve had the Old Country line about a month now..The offset smoker will follow this. Here’s a few pics…..







I was pretty impressed with the build quality of their Pecos line of offset smoker. The lid was pretty heavy to raise and lower, and the metal seemed to be fairly thick, much better quality than those $200. ones. The way the lid rested against the cook chamber seemed solid! There was a groove cut all around the cook chamber for the lid to rest in. It has a huge smokestack for airflow. It’s priced at $499.99 and seemed to be worth every penny IMO. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s pretty comparable to the Char-Griller offset that Max Good just reviewed. If anyone’s interested in a sub $1,000. offset, you might wanna check this one out.




Single slide out cooking grate could probably fit 3-4 briskets
Has fold down tray in front




Firebox has slide out cooking grate and coal grate


Heat baffle made into cook chamber next to firebox opening


Firebox opening into cook chamber

[Sid P]

Not a bad looking smocker.

[Panhead John]

I know! I like smockers better than smokers anyway.

[barelfly]

I gotta get me one of those smockers!

[Steve R.]

I have had the Over and Under and Smokehouse smokers in the past and liked them. Definitely fills the niche between the cheap COS and EOS. And they stand behind their lifetime warranty, I found out firsthand.

[Uncle Bob]

If you'd want their heavier duty offset with additional grate look at the Brazos, it's 1/4" rather than 1/8" material. It's best to inspect whichever Old Country product as a common complaint is regarding the welds, especially where joining the fire box to the cook chamber. They seem to have voids from time to time.

[Steve R.]

The workmanship is pretty inconsistent, unit to unit. I went to two different Academy stores and looked at multiple units before buying each of mine. But when you find a good one, it's a nice cooker for the price.

[Panhead John]

Uncle Bob Yeah I saw their Brazos on a website before posting this and they were around $1,100. or $1,200 I think. That’s not bad for a decent quality smoker.

[jfmorris]

The Academy here in Huntsville has had the Old Country products for a couple of years, but seems to have added more options recently.


I did see that same Santa Maria style grill last time I was in there picking up charcoal, and it looked to be pretty well built. The problem with it though should be obvious in the photos above. The chain attaches to the CENTER of each end of the grate. This means the grate is gonna be tippy, and if you don't have a balanced load front to back, I see trouble brewing...

I feel it needs to have a chain to each corner, coming together to the center vertical chain. However, with such an arrangement, they would need to make the vertical members taller and the crank mechanism higher to have the same amount of grate height adjustment.

[Panhead John]

Steve R. I’m in Academy at least 3-4 times a year and I’ve never seen any Old Country stuff at all. How the hell have y’all been getting the good stuff before Houston? 😂 Which Old Country cookers have you bought besides the Pecos?

[Steve R.]

Over and Under, and Smokehouse. Panhead John

[Panhead John]

Oh, ok, I saw that in your first post but I wasn’t sure if they were Old Country cookers.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

That Old Country looks pretty good. I would look into something like that if I weren't building.

And that 'groove' for the door to fit into is metal strapping or flat plate, molded into the inside of the cook chamber and welded in (probably tack welded in this instance) to the inside. Nice touch, does look like a nice cooker.

[Panhead John]

Aah, didn’t know that about the “groove”….makes sense.

[texastweeter]

I have been eyeballing the old country gravity feed for a while for here at the house in Whitehouse

[tstalafuse]

The Academy stores in the DFW area has sold them for at least 10yrs, or at least the one nearest to me at the time did. As mentioned, quality control was not their strong point so you really had to inspect every one of their products to make sure the unit was okay before walking out the door with one. I don't know if they still do it or not, but at the time I was looking at them the "price" didn't include the shipping charge from the factory in Laredo to the store, which then got added on at the register. I think that was an Academy "feature". So, the $500 Pecos smoker was actually closer to $1000.

[Steve R.]

There was no surprise shipping charge when I bought my first one in 2016, or the next one a few years later.