Pitmaker BBQ Vault Smoker Review

Pitmaker is a Houston area metal fabricator known for manufacturing colorful, large capacity, heavy duty cabinet smokers and rectangular offset pits for competition, tailgating and serious BBQ. We have seen several trailer mounted Pitmaker smoker/grill combo setups and they are very impressive, extremely well designed and built.

They also have two backyard charcoal/wood grills and a tailgater model. These cookers are based on Pitmaker's large "Vault" cabinet smoker designs with a firebox on the bottom and cook chamber with shelves on top. All are heavy duty steel construction. We haven’t heard much about the residential Pitmaker grills, but their large capacity smokers have an excellent reputation and it’s a good bet they wouldn’t put their name on something lame.

The owners of Pitmaker do 10 to 15 competitions per year and half of their employees are on teams. "Our smokers are battle tested," says co-owner George Shore, "we're constantly learning new ways to improve quality and make sure our customers get consistent, repeatable results." Built solid with 1/8" virgin steel and heavy ceramic wool insulation, Pitmaker uses seamless welds instead of sheet metal screws or fasteners. This heavy insulation makes the exterior cool to the touch while in use. Although the standard finish is high heat flat black, the cool surface doesn't require high heat coatings and allows Pitmaker to offer colorful cosmetics that are one of their trademarks.  For an additional fee, all painted parts are suspended in the air and covered with epoxy primer, followed by auto enamel. Team and school colors, logos and labels are all welcome. See above.