Backwoods Smoker Competitor Review
The standard Backwoods Competitor comes with stainless doors and latches, the new low profile smoke stack, non-removable water pan and splatter guard. Overall dimensions are 55″ tall including the stack, 24″wide, 32″ deep. Cooking chamber is 29″ tall, 20″ wide, and 20″ deep. Holds 8 racks 19.5″ x 19.5″ spaced 3 inches apart and an additional 7 racks can be added.
Here’s a Backwoods Smoker video from our pal, Malcom Reed, with HowToBBQRight.com. Be sure to subscribe to The How To BBQ Right YouTube channel here.
The Competitor can BBQ 6 small turkeys, 32 slabs baby back ribs, 24 slabs of St. Louis cut ribs, 8 whole briskets, 16 to 20 Boston butts. Options include a heat diverter plate above the coals, casters, stand, tie down handles, cover, thermostat controller, additional shelf sliders, auto gas, auto waterfiller and drain.
Product Information:
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Model:Competitor
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Item Price :3.00
*Price Subject To Change -
Made in USA:yes
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Review Method:Researched it from Afar
We have researched this product from afar by gathering info from the manufacturer, owners, and other reliable sources, with our BS meters on high. -
Primary Function:Smoker
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Fuel:Charcoal
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Primary Capacity:Extra Large and Commercial (about 150 burgers) square inches
Manufacturer:
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Backwoods Smoker
Backwoods makes a range of more than a dozen sizes of impressive, front-loaded charcoal or wood-fueled cabinet smokers in Louisiana. They can even custom build if one of their standards won’t work for your needs.
The small units are superb for home cooks, the medium size units are very popular on the competition scene and are favored by many top teams, and the large ones are used by caterers, whole hog cookers, and in restaurants. Mike McGowan and his team have been building these fine smokers since 1987.
There is a lower door for the fuel, and above the charcoal below the bottom shelf in the food chamber there is a large capacity stainless steel water pan that puts significant humidity into the atmosphere and keeps food moist. This moisture is both good and bad in that it takes longer to build a good hard bark.
They are built with three walls: The space between the outside wall and center wall is filled with insulation so the heat stays within the unit. They perform superbly even in freezing weather, We have tested that thoroughly in rough, Chicago winter weather with the G2 Party model they shipped us to try. There is an air gap between the center wall and the inner wall through which smoke and heat travel from the firebox in the lower compartment past the water pan up to the top of the cooking chamber. Smoke and heat enter the cooking chamber at the top of the side walls and heat also radiates through the inner walls. The chimney opening is at the bottom of the back wall so smoke and heat work their way down past the food from the top, exit the cooking chamber at the bottom, and then go back up the chimney. Because the duct from the firebox opens at the top, the top shelf runs a bit hotter than lower shelves.
Materials, welds, and bends are high quality. There are stainless steel protectors on the top corners, the door latches and gaskets close tight with a satisfying kerthunk. Shelves are heavy 304 stainless steel. Not surprising, these babies are heavy.
They come with high-quality Tel-Tru dial thermometers built into the doors. We have benchmarked them and found them to be surprisingly accurate, although we still recommend relying on a digital thermometer.
Backwoods Smokers have many many admirers, Meathead is among them.
Published On: 4/4/2013
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