Remember Bob Vila?

[Allon]

He's selling smokers on Amazon...







Bob Vila

[Panhead John]

Here ya go Allon……

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-smokers-for-beginners/

[Allon]

Thank you. It was probably pretty easy right?

[Jfrosty27]

He will always follow the paycheck…..

[Panhead John]

Yep, he lost all credibility with me, just on his number 1 and #3 picks alone…….

[Dadof3Illinois]

I really thought you were going to say his Channels pick....HA!!!

[Panhead John]

Using the # sign has been a little wonky.

See above ☝️ Dad of 3. When I use the # sign immediately followed by a number, it screws up and says…channels….when I post it, like it just did with you. Anyway, I’m assuming you were referring to the PBC pick, number 2. 😂 Nah, actually that was one of his respectable picks.

[rlozinak]

He hit on 2 of my smokers. Traeger pro 20 and the WSM which I got rid of.

[Uncle Bob]

Bob Vila an expert on "Best" smokers. Is this an admission that he's actually an expert at blowing smoke?

[Oak Smoke]

Now that’s funny!

[hoovarmin]

Sounds like Bob (not our Uncle Bob, but the other one) is getting out of his lane a bit.

[glitchy]

Well, since it does say "for beginners" and many of the smokers are under $250, I’d cut ole Bob a little slack. Thousands of Amazon reviewers agree with each choice I followed the link too. Not too many of us here qualify as beginners and how many of our first smokers were like these? My first was a Wally World $99 vertical propane smoker.

Now if more beginners found the free side before buying a smoker, they could probably make a little better choice than a few on the list. Lots of people just dive in and see if they like it first though, then get serious after their first smoker wears out.

Panhead John I think Pitmaster Club and #3 are great choices to dip you feet in the water. A $75 WSM knock off for number 3.

[Panhead John]

glitchy I did consider the beginners tag he gave. I have a serious distaste for cheap electric smokers, as I had one too years ago. Hated it. I just think there’s many better options for a comparable amount of money. And if he’s gonna recommend products in the $250. range in there, I would have recommended something other than the Masterbuilt for his #3 choice.

[glitchy]

Panhead John I saw a different number 3, a Masterbuilt bullet smoker.

I get you on the cheap electric. I had a SmokinTex (not so cheap) as my second smoker. I liked it for ribs, butts and briskets, but when I started doing other stuff liked it less.

[Panhead John]

Thanks for correcting me on the Brinkman mistake, I’ll correct it above.

[Willy]

Another one bites the dust--also see Emeril and QVC-ish junk.

[HawkerXP]

Bob, Bob, Bob.

[Huskee]

Yeah why the hate on Bob? Beginners are beginners. They want cheap to get their feet wet. I started there.

[smokin fool]

I will say I'd rather date a Kardashian than Bob....not by much though.
Guess it depends on who approached who in this case, if Amazon approached/wanted Bob for some kind of credibility/name brand thing, hey, take the paycheck.
But if as some have mentioned Bob is looking for relevance again by shilling for smokers, I dunno.
Then whose to know, as Husky said, maybe he does know his way around this art we all enjoy.

[Huskee]

smokin fool Who's Husky? Lol

[smokin fool]

Wuppsie daisy, my apologies Huskee

[Argoboy]

I had a CharGrill Akron and I bought it because it was on sale and I wanted to try something different from my Traeger, it is a good Kamado but as someone here told me it would not last and they were right. I bought a Primo XL to replace it. We all have to start someplace.

[FireMan]

I’ll throw my hat with Argoboy, Huskee & glitchy. Beginners are just that, beginners. As far as the hate on electric smokers, well, they sure don’t interest me as sorta electric anything does. But that doesn’t mean some one else would learn & have fun with it. The Akorn really caught my attention cuz it performs well & is cheap! As far as him learnin to recommend something other than "building stuff", well, I give you me. In the vein of our Ol’ Johnston feller, I was a master cremator, now I Ain’t. I can recommend a thing or two, when 7-8 yrs ago all I could recommend was a match. Look at how long it took Raichlen to get with the thermometer. Look at how far a lot of the members here have come along.

[Huskee]

Yeah, I learned to use thermometer probes for hotdogs whereas prior I would just risk it all and go blind with them suckers. But on a serious note, well said. Better to have someone offering advice to a complete newbie than for a newbie to go in completely blind. And unfortunately, even with our best efforts, there are still some folks whose Google searches don't show them our site.

[Spinaker]

Yep, I started on a Brinkmann Electric

[Allon]

I was looking at a Masterbuilt vertical smoker before I found AR. What a disaster that would have been with the glass doors falling off...
I think that's the first thing I did at AR was to look up the smoker in the database.

The Bob Vila Smackdown?

[CaptainMike]

Sad, pathetic plea for relevancy. Have some dignity, Bob.