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**CaptainMike** · April 1, 2019, 08:42 AM

Traeger held the patent, and thus the market, on pellet poopers until 2006. Things really opened up when their patents expired. Here's a good link on the history: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pell...Traeger_grills

**Donw** · April 1, 2019, 08:52 AM

You are right, and it is a journey many of us have taken.

What most people experience first is what they find in the box stores and similar establishment. And you can produce some fine food on what they carry. Many of us started with what we could find locally, and load into the back of our truck or trailer. And, we did some fine cooking on them. As we gained a little more knowledge we realized we wanted that little bit more that we thought was lacking. That is when we discovered the other lines which are usually carried by dealers who are a little more specialized than a big box store. And we learned that we actually love to cook so the added investment seemed worth it. There are a lot of good slightly used top-end smokers listed on Craig’s List and other sites because some realize smoking meat just wasn’t their thing after plunking down big bucks.

**Rod** · April 1, 2019, 08:56 AM

I did the same thing. Bought a Traeger and then found The Pit. I'm not going to say Traegers are bad grills. I just learned for their cost you can get a much better grill. However, once they become popular companies tend to put more capital into growth than quality. I'm starting to move away from pellet grills. With all the mods you can now make on kettles, you can have a better and cheaper set up than any pellet grill out there. Plus better flavor and little to no moving parts that will eventually break.

**Nate** · April 1, 2019, 11:05 AM

Around these parts until the last few years it seemed places that carried pellet poopers were some specialty hardware stores, maybe a local butcher or meat locker, lawn furniture/patio stores, and some fireplace stores... Now you see them at Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc...

A number of the companies that I would consider the upper midlevel quality cookers (rec tec, grilla, etc...) to high end cookers (mak, splits and spits, etc...) are mostly direct to customer operations now. The dealer network really put a cramp on their margins and caused the prices to inflate that it was hard for them to be competitive. But their popularity is starting to grow. Right or wrong I think some of these companies really target their marketing efforts to people already in the BBQ world that belong to the blogs, forums, facebook pages etc... I would venture to say those are the folks most likely to spend $750+ (on the low end) to purchase a new cooker that doesn't have eons of name recognition behind it (not like buying a $1000 weber that everyone already knows and trusts the brand... you don't have to be hip on grilling and q to just know who they are).

This concept really isn't unique to pellet cookers... It is the same with stick burners.... anyone that has walked through a big box retail store has seen an OK Joe Highland smoker... but those who really aren't in the BBQ world mostly don't know about: Shirley, meadow creek, Lonestar, Lang, etc.... that are the true better and higher end stick burners.

Same thing could be said about Big Green Egg... wasn't the first out there really but the first to become a "household name" so to speak but there are arguably a lot better kamados out there that people don't know about unless they are familiar with the bbq world.

Pitboss, GMG, and those type of pellet grills are usually like a gateway cooker into MCS...

Here is an interesting article from about a year and a half ago that talks a little about Grilla's experience with breaking into the market... https://www.cpcstrategy.com/blog/201...t-to-consumer/

**Uncle Bob** · April 1, 2019, 11:19 AM

Your observations and experience are pretty common. Human nature tends to prevail and confirmation bias is a reality. I went through a similar awakening to poopers late last year though I bypassed the entry level stuff because my sister took care of that with her experience that quickly broadened my learning curve. Even with that though, I too learned as you did that there were more options than I had been exposed to. That being said I've come to the realization that, like many on here, I have a variety of cooking devices and each has their strong suit, each can be tweaked through messing with the device or the process, and each can do a "good job" especially in the hands of an experienced cook. I think I'll stop at that before being tempted to launch into a rendition of Kumbaya.

**Rob Johnston** · April 3, 2019, 11:31 AM

I was in the same boat before coming here. I only recently figured out that there was more than Treager and Camp Chef. Now I am currently deciding between Rec Tec and Grilla. I probably couldn't go wrong with either brand it seems.

**Potkettleblack** · April 3, 2019, 03:24 PM

I would never slag a grill I haven't cooked on. But folks get tribal on these things, especially as they find user groups. The MyGrillaGrill FB group is, alternatively a cool place to hang out with like minded folks, or a vile hive of anti-Traeger, CampChef, RecTec, and so on.

Cookers matter a bit. The cook and their mastery of their cooker matters more. If I had one take away from Aaron Franklin's book, it's that you can learn a cheap offset smoker and make top quality BBQ that people would line up around the block to pay for. If you had one takeaway from my life, you'd see you can make great things on a Smokey Joe, on a 22" kettle, on a nice gas grill and on a pellet smoker. If you take home anything from the Pit, it's that everyone who has a pellet cooker either really likes it, or finds it doesn't produce enough smoke for them. If you like your Traeger, what care you what other folks have to say. Enjoy your cooker, enjoy your labors, get better at it.

I don't often quote drag queens, but if someone is down on your cooker, Latrice Royale's line "Get up... and make them eat it" seems applicable. Looking sickening is up to you.

**Troutman** · April 3, 2019, 06:02 PM

I bought a Ford pickup, then 5 Chevys in a row, now 2 GMCs in a row. Thinking about that new Ram once the new wears off....

....oh I just realized we were discussing pellet poopers. I like mine !!!

**Mosca** · April 3, 2019, 08:50 PM

Remember this: the goal isn’t to have the best cooker. The goal is to produce great food. The ribs don’t know what you cooked them on. They either taste great, or they don’t.

Proceed forward from there.

**adamcoe** · April 4, 2019, 12:56 AM

Yeah I feel like people who get too much into one particular brand of something are often just arbitrarily picking it so they can be on a team, not unlike sports or politics. Facts don't really seem to play into it so much as tribalism and blindly supporting something because you support it, and the "other guys" obviously have it completely wrong, whoever the other guys might be. BBQ sadly is not immune to this, though I must say it's more than a little comical to see it in the pellet grill community. I mean you can have legitimate discussions about stick burners vs. barrel cookers vs. kamados vs. kettles and whatnot but I find it really quite sad that people are arguing over which machine can kick out tiny pieces of sawdust in the most efficient or desirable way. I mean I guess if you're talking maybe reliability or longevity then perhaps, but you're trying to tell me that pellets coming out of a Traeger are better than pellets coming out of a Grilla or better than pellets coming out of a RecTec?

That's like saying that cooking something in a Maytag oven is patently and undeniably better than that same dish coming out of a GE oven. It's a silly argument and you look silly making it. Pellet smokers, like it or not, are tourist level BBQ and while they definitely can yield some great results, they're also designed and marketed for people who want the lowest level of involvement with their cook. Arguing about them is not only ridiculous, given that their entire raison d'etre is to produce the most predictable results with the lowest level of human interaction, but it's just silly given that you can literally put any pellet into any pellet smoker and achieve essentially the same end product.

Not shitting on anyone who enjoys pellet smokers because as I mentioned, they can and do indeed deliver great food, but they are undeniably armchair bbq. Which, if that's your thing, more power to you, and definitely the more people that can enjoy bbq the better. 30 years ago those same people were either burning everything or not cooking bbq at home at all so I'm all for it. We all have different interests and we're not all into getting into every detail of this kind of thing. Some of us get really into it and some of us are strictly weekend warrior types with lots of other stuff going on in our lives...but let's pick our battles. Getting worked up about this pellet grill vs. that one is like showing up at a Ferrari convention and arguing Chevy vs. Ford.

**Nate** · April 4, 2019, 04:15 AM

adamcoe imho your post lost credibility when you did indeed start sh!tting on people who use pellet cookers by referring to it as "tourist level bbq" and "armchair bbq" or implying that the only people using pellet cookers could only burn food 30 years ago before this invention came along.

A cooker is just a tool... period. Different folks use different tools for different reasons. For some folks there is a need for not having to constantly tend to a fire... maybe it is family obligations, work, etc... for others like Potkettleblack it may be because you live someplace that doesn’t allow open flame or charcoal and this is as close as you can get without getting kicked out of your living quarters. The blanket implication that folks using pellet cookers are just lazy and don’t take bbq seriosuly or really get into it is horribly flawed.

If you are going to make that argument about pellet cookers and wanting the least amount of interaction possible then you may have to add gas cookers and electric cookers to the list... and if you are going to start down that rabbit hole then anyone who uses a stoker like a bbq guru, heck we may have to add komado cookers, Weber Smokey mountain users, anyone who owns a slow n sear, KBQ folks, gravity fed cookers, and eventually the tightly sealed and welded stick burners, and so on.... All of these things have been designed to help create consistency and predictability with the lowest amount of human interaction needed... since human interaction is usually the leading cause of unpredictable results.

Everybody who cooks is looking for some of the things you inadvertently sh!t on. Reliability, predictability, and consistent results... hell that is probably a huge desire in the restaurant business... consistent, reliable, predictable results. There are some good Q places out there that use gas and/or pellet fired cookers.

Quality bbq pit manufacturers all try to make efficient pits that you can get some level of predictability, efficiency, reliability out of with less interaction. I don’t know of anyone that went to buy a bbq pit or anyone that built one and said I only want a pit that I have to feed a split to every five minute and adjust the intake and exhaust every 3 minutes that doesn’t keep steady heat and even heat.... (except for the folks at char griller) because dang it that is traditional bbq and that is the only way I can prove I really get into it!

I will agree that if all things were or are consistent then arguing over brand is silly. However often times all things are not the same or consistent... could be customer service, quality of build, country of origin, technology, features, etc... same reason someone may argue a Lang over a Meadow Creek, etc... which is silly because everyone knows Shirley is the best... plus competition drives innovation which is good for us bbq enthusiasts. Also the same reason for iPhone vs Galaxy. They both at their core do the same thing.

Again back to my point... it is a tool. I didn’t get the opportunity to do near as much long cook Q’ing or competing as I wanted to the last couple of years mostly because of work and what little time I had at home I needed to get caught up on homeownership related things and I prioritized spending time and doing things with my wife instead of my smoker. That being said she knows I like to Q and encouraged me to go ahead and buy a pellet cooker when she saw me starting to look at them. I own and use a pellet cooker, PBC, stick burner, Weber kettle, and a gas grill. They are all just tools and I can pull out the tool that works the best for whatever I am wanting or needing to do.... and nobody that knows me will accuse me of "not being that into bbq" even if I make them some ribs on my pellet popper instead of the stick burner.

But hey if you are that into it and not a weekend warrior then have fun digging a hole in your backyard today and shoveling in pre burnt embers under the meat and cooking hot and fast over direct heat... you know... the authentic way southern bbq came to be.... or was it? Who invented bbq anyway and set the definition for what authentic and who qualifies as really being into it or just being considered a tourist or weekend warrior?

btw here is meatheads’s article:
https://amazingribs.com/barbecue-his.../what-barbecue

**Murdy** · April 4, 2019, 08:15 AM

Originally posted by dubob View Post

I'm very surprised to find out the popularity of these other brands on these websites when they have a very low profile - I've never seen one advertised anywhere until I registered on these smoking meat websites. I find that very strange.

That has a lot to do with how the internet is set up. Most ads are targeted to you based on your past browsing habits. Until you start searching for something, you wont be targeted with a lot of ads concerning it. Every once in a while, I'll search something for my mom, and often, soon thereafter, I start seeing marketing related to that search.

**Johnny Big Time** · April 4, 2019, 08:55 AM

I've made a couple dozen cooks so far on my CC Woodwind SG with Sear Box and produced some very good ribs

I thought ribs came out very good on my CC smoke pro...that is until I got a stick burner. There's a reason why a pellet grill is called an easy bake oven. That's all it's really good for. But I can't really rag on all pellet grills just because I bought a cheap one.

**adamcoe** · April 4, 2019, 11:41 PM

Alright I don't want to get into a big thing here, as it was never my intention to piss in anyone's cereal...but this: "For some folks there is a need for not having to constantly tend to a fire... maybe it is family obligations, work, etc"...that is the definition of armchair BBQ. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, far from it...but realize that this was exactly my point. Pellet cookers are generally designed for people who don't want to or can't (for whatever reason) spend as much time paying attention to a cook. That's what armchair BBQ is. And certainly if you're in a situation where a pellet cooker is the only thing that fits your space/municipal regulations/lifestyle, absolutely go for it. All I was trying to say was that that while pellet cookers do make some great food, and there's nothing wrong with them, they also do sort of take the art out of cooking. Yes, there's a lot to be said for even just putting together a great recipe or a great rub, and that's important, but the actual process of cooking is an important part of our craft as well, compared to say baking, where 25 minutes at 350 is 25 minutes at 350, assuming your oven is accurate (another challenge to be sure), your results will be the same every time with no interaction from you.

You're not a bad person if you use a pellet cooker, many well known BBQ people do and achieve excellent results...all I meant to say is that it takes more time and more skill to learn the craft and know how to do it well with charcoal or wood, and I appreciate those who do. I certainly am not saying I'm any kind of hotshot pitmaster either, I'm still very much learning and getting into the nitty gritty of BBQ. As soon as Aaron Franklin installs a pellet grill at his place, I'll be onboard but IMO there's real deal BBQ which is the major leagues, and pellet grills are triple A. Nothing wrong with that and it's still great baseball, but it'll never be top of the line.

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