The Ultimate Smoker Comparison 

6:29 "Oh I almost forgot that he's in LA!"

I have a YS1500 and an offset smoker. I've learned that you have to do things a little differently with the pellet smoker to get the best results. First, you have to cook fat side down. The heat comes up through the holes in the HMS plate and will dry out and /or overcook the flat if it's down. Second, I use an Amazen smoker tube, usually filled with cherry pellets for extra smoke level (and I like the color). Finally, I use Mesquite pellets, or 50:50 Mesquite and Pecan. With the lower smoke level, the meat can easily take the stronger Mesquite smoke. With these adjustments, my pellet smoker results are pretty much the same as my offset. So, all in all, a good test, but there are some variables that need to be accounted for. The methods for an offset smoker don't necessarily apply to other types of smokers. Finally, I'd love to see how a gravity fed smoker fares against an offset and a pellet. I'm not too interested in the ceramic grills, since I rarely smoke one brisket at a time.

Great video.... I have a Lang 60 Deluxe reverse flow and have never looked back. I cook several hundred dollars every weekend. Key to an offset, (pass through or reverse flow) is fire management and constant babysitting. All starts with the wood and fire on an offset.

Kamado guy here, I love the results. I'm not naive enough to think it's on the level of a good offset. Great experiment. I appreciate the effort that went into this.

thank you for a great video, really enjoyable to watch and different to anything else i have seen before. love your content and would love to see more comparison videos

Awesome study Jeremy, thanks for taking the time and sharing.

I’ve been watching your videos for months and just ran across this one. This is the best and most unbiased comparison I’ve seen and very similar to my own experiences. Love the pellet smoker but just can’t get the flavor I want so my Brazos is what I use when I want real bbq and the pellet is used for my weekly meal planning due to the ease.

Thanks a bunch for confirming that my work and sweat is worth it. Stick burning offsets rule.

Thanks for running this experiment! I’m very happy with and proud of my offset smoker today. A TRUE CHAMPION!

Of all your videos (and I've watched a majority) this is one of my favorites - I use an reverse-flow for my business and appreciate the comparison throwdown - great job Jeremy!!!

Hey Jeremy great comparison video. I'm also a huge fan of the offsets, I've got an octagon 48x24 reverse flow and a 500 gallon straight flow both made by me and they put out amazing food. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work my friend.

GREAT VIDEO Mad! It was great to watch, and putting your favorite smoker out there is a challenge.

Tremendous video Jeremy! Thanx for a great comparison.

Awesome test Brother 👍 love it. Subbed right a way

So jealous, you're cooking with some of the best equipment!! I'm favoriting this video so when I do upgrade, i can use this video as a reference

I really like your videos, both informative and fun. I still love my YS640!! I've had it for 8 years and it still produces great food.

U THA MAN !!! Thank you so much for the tests!!! U put in a ton of effort !!! Wow..And I agree with your synopsis !!!

This was super useful. Thank you for doing this.

Excellent video, Jeremy! I own two COS, a WSM, a propane cabinet smoker and an electric smoker for when the weather is completely unbearable here in Chicago... always burning cooks in the COS cookers so until I can save up for a real offset, the WSM rules! 😉 Keep up the great work!!

Wow, great comparison!!! Very helpfull! Thank you! 😁

Great comparison tests!! Always listening to you .... Thanks.

Excellent video. Because of the growing popularity of pellet smokers, I wonder if you could do a pellet grill test using smoke tubes? I have an offset stick burner & a pellet smoker. I use the pellet smoker about 90% of the time because of time available & convenience. Using the smoke tube seems to help quite a bit. Thanks again for all of the great video's. I just finished the video on fire management and it was the best video on fire management I have ever seen. Stay safe

Awesome and very informative,,, Thanks a lot Jeremy, I currently have a Meadow Creek TS70, a weber Smoky Mountain, and a Weber Summit Charcoal Cooker. Still Love my Meadow Creek Offset smoker and I'm needing a bigger one in the near future and I'm more and more starting to like the Fatstacks.. So the more Fatstack comparisons you can do the closer you have me convinced on them.

Finally got to see this all the way through. I figured sample d was the best. I told Eric the same thing. Glad I got a chance to try some amazing bbq. Thanks for all the hard work you put in. It was Delicious and much appreciated. 👍👍😎🔥

Loving watching your videos man. I'm getting my own house very shortly and ill be getting an offset smoker to start smoking anything I can get my hands on. I have been watching a few of your videos and I am learning so much! Keep up the quality videos!

Love the video Jeremy! I’m a big fan of offsets myself and especially reverse flow! But I’ve come to love my PVC! And I would love for you to try one out and compare it to your office at and see what you think. Try to Pit Barrel Cooker.

Brilliant video mate! Seriously, that was a great comparison video and for a beginner like me, very informative. So thanks for taking the time to make and share the smoker test video Jeremy! PS. I am pleased to own a regular flow offset. Cheers

Definitely my favorite video you’ve done! Amazing job!

Loved the video!! Just shows how much taste is a personal thing.

Good job on the video and reviews. They all seemed to enjoy the BBQ ! Thanks for sharing with us. Keep up the good work.

Great video....awesome test....and makes me feel better hahah

Thank you so much for this video, I was debating whether to get a pellet or an offset, Im going with the offset.

AWESOME Video Jeremy! I figured that but now conferred, love my offset but my drum is so much more ease and consistent. even my Bradly is nice in the winter

6:29 when he hears a shooting and then a car crash...but everything was fine.

Extraordinary comparison! Thks for sharing

Cool video bro!! I bet that was a tiring day. Keep on putting these out!

great test thanks

Great video. I own several types of smokers so I can relate to this video well. I have never done such an extensive test, so I thoroughly enjoyed the video and the results. I tend to gravitate to my less labor intensive smokers, but I respect the results you have found here. Thank you for producing this comparison. I am now a subscriber.

Great comparison video!

Jeremy, love your Vlogs... glad you are back!

Love it thank you for making this video.

Another brilliant video, Mad Scientist. I'm not shocked by the results. I'm striving for a reverse flow offset smoker. Not many options here in UK, but my friend is a fabricator and he is going to make one for me. So.... Boom!

Great video. I was there and those results are spot on.

Perhaps one of the best BBQ experiments ever done on the Tube. I personally own a YS1500 as well a s a KJ ceramic but I'd agree with the results based on my personal experience also. Problem is doing commercial quantities on offsets day in day out is a bear compared to pellets so the compromise was struck. Awesome job Jeremy and hi from Australia.

I’ve followed you for years and this is your best video yet. Fantastic content! And as an owner of both a brazos and kamado joe (big joe), you verified what I’ve believed for some time. Stick burning reigns supreme!

Never too old to play with smokin' BBQ! 🥰

Fantastic video! Absolutely love your stuff, Jeremy!! Was a big time kamado guy for years UNTIL I had food from a stick burner which I hadn’t had in quite sometime. Night/day difference in quality of smoke profile. Bought a nice stick burner and absolutely loved the food coming from it. Problem was I lacked to time to use it as often as I would have liked. Sold it and now have a MAK pellet grill. The MAK has actually become my all-time favorite smoker (and grill)... and I have had quite a few over the past 25+ years. Never thought it would happen, but I have become a pellethead... lol. From my experience, once you have had food smoked with pure wood and proper airflow... it’s hard to go back to smoldering chunks. At least that’s been my journey :)

This was a really good one. I don't usually comment on these things, but I loved this. Pretty much what you'd expect to. The only thing I consider when choosing which of my smokers to use on a given weekend - is weather or not I have the time to run the offset. Sometimes Ill run the offset but only up to the point of wrapping, then transfer to butcher paper and finish in the pellet smoker.

Finally I needed a mad scientist fix , We have missed you !!! 😆

AWESOME VIDEO!

Best video yet! More tests like this in the future please.

Nice video! Thanks!

i have the traeger pellet smoker....love my set up. i live in an apartment, so its super easy for me to use on my patio.

Well you proved what I expected. I just don't need to cook that much food at once. I would like a video on backyard smokers covering what to look for in units including firebox designs, grates, how the heat and air flows, constant temp across the gates, and chimneys. Thanks for the video as it helped me to decide to look for an smaller offset if I can find a quality one.

Really awesome test Jeremy! Now Do this again with the Old Country and Masterbuilt 1050 Gravity charcoal/wood burners! Even though I'm a lifelong Missourian, I recently ordered my Masterbuilt 1050 from BBQHQ in Simi Valley and was curious it looks like the place is huge! Happy Smokin!

great video and happy you are safe after the drive by shooting around the 6:28 mark lol

Totally agree. I own a Komado Joe and I always felt the smoke was lacking but this is a side effect of the efficiency it brings to the table. I have found that since I started using a temp control fan that it significantly increased the airflow and created a better smoke flavor.

Awesome brother looked like a cool little experiment, especially for a noob like me. Keep it up GC

Great test Jeremy

Incredible. Great work! I cracked up at the gunshot and peelout and the extended horn honk. Also you should grow out the stache

Good video. Luckily I bought the off-set model you recommended in a previous video. Still learning, and that’s part of the reward for the effort.

Hey Jeremy, great experiment it looked like a ton of fun and probably the most complete one of these type of experiments I’ve ever seen done. The only thing I could possibly think you could do to make it a little more complete, other than adding more smokers to the mix, would be since you’re such an offset expert at this point would you think that really knowing how to dial in those cookers vs some inexperience on the other two cookers played a roll in some of the final tally. Again I thought this was great and in a non lab setting it’s almost impossible to remove all the variables but I wonder if it could have been any closer if you had someone as skilled with kamados running the Joe as you are at running the fat stack. Again really cool and if I were you I’d be lookin for an excuse to run this again with some more cookers hahaha 👍. Have a good one bud

Thanks for the info..regards

Great test brother! Best Q channel going by far

Interesting results! Though I would have guessed about the same. I have a Weber Smokey Mountain which is probably comparable to the Joe. Since I've owned it I have learned of the poor air flow but it's nice to not have to babysit. One day I probably will get a stick burner as getting a Pellet smoker doesn't really seem all that worth it as I think I can improve upon cooking with the WSM by making some adjustments.

You're best vid so far.

Great job, I do a little BBQ in Belize down south in Central America and all 3 types of smoker except the Egg and for me the regular flow would be 1st, reverse flow 2nd and my Traeger 780 3rd overall. I'm getting a smoke tube for the pellet grill to see if it would intensify the smoke flavor. Maybe a little insight on this please from your expertise would really help me. Overall GREAT videos all the time and looking out for the next one.

Dude you have some crazy drivers out there. Drive by shooting and constant horn blowing!? What in the world? Anyway this is an awesome video. The results were somewhat predictable once I saw the intro. I would agree with these findings just on personal experience. You just can’t beat real wood. Nice work man. Keep the videos coming.

Just an overall great video. As a BBQ channel from Santa Clarita, you did a great job. Just a lot of great knowledge . Keep it up.

Great video glad to be part of it. What temperature did you run the Yoder ?

Great job! Looking forward to whats next.

You sir, earned a new sub here. I have a KJ Big Joe and get rave reviews about the food I produce on it; so far I’ve catered three large weddings and have another coming up in 2020. My plan is to open my own bbq joint in the next five years and I’ll have to go to a commercial sized pit but which one? A Cook Shack, Southern Pride, custom built? So many choices. Keep up the awesome work, great show you did here.

Possible the best video you have ever made!

Excellent test and like yourself I'm a true believer in an offset so I'm not surprised but I'm delighted with the results. I've been in the market to upgrade my cheap offset for a while (ultimately the Brazos will probably win) and this confirms that the offset is the way to go. Friends have tried to convince me to get a Big Green Egg or pellet smoker for convenience, but I'd rather buy something that gives me a better finished product. Besides, I like sitting outside and spending a day with my smoker working with the fire. Great job Jeremy - keep up the great work.

Awesome comparison, have been wondering if I should upgrade to a reverse flow.

I haven’t used my offset smoker much since I’ve had a pellet smoker (RECTEC Stampede, mini before that). So very very very convenient. I get much better sleep by smoking brisket on the pellet than I did on the offset.

Great vid! Wish I was there. Where would you place a Gravity Fed smoker in this lineup?

Could you please test a smoke tube in a pellet grill next time?? I've only just learned about them, but would be very interested in the outcome! Love your BBQ!!

Just curious.....what are your rub preferences for these briskets......salt and pepper?

Just a note, the types and manufacturer of pellets used can also obviously make a difference for the pellet grills.. sometimes a pretty huge one. For a while I used Traeger pellets and while I couldn't complain.. I never went WOW this is awesome. Then one day I switched to Lumberjack pellets (either Hickory or Competition Blend) and while I'm not saying they're the "best" (I'm still experimenting) but even the aroma of the smoke itself made you think something good was cooking and the flavor of my brisket was like night and day with even the smoke ring so much improved. It was literally no comparison. That might make an interesting comparison video for the future too.. just saying. Especially since a good majority of us "casual" smokers tend towards the pellet grills for the sheer convenience.

Enjoyed the video. Do you think that having the fat stack loaded up with more briskets than the others could have had any affect on the flavor?

Great video!!!!

Hey Jeremy my understanding from what you said about the reverse flow smoker is that you could potentially run a less clean smoke as it will be more forgiving while the smoke filters over time?

Great job 👍

Really enjoyed this video and my guess that the offset smokers would come out on top in smoky flavor turned out to be right. But I didn't expect the pellet smoker to do better than the Kamado. I'm trying to decide between a Kamado and an offset as an upgrade to my Weber Smokey Mountain. This video has me leaning toward the offset.

Great info

I have a home-built reverse flow smoker that I use charcoal and wood on after using gas to heat the baffles. Not sure if that's competition friendly, but the blending means that I get great efficiency across all fronts, and (mostly) everyone likes the barbecue from it. I do have to laugh that a Traeger ad ran before this video :D

Great video.

Love your channel. Really REALLY good stuff. I have a Yoder, and I must say, my stick burner DOES give more smoke flavor. However, there is a work around for the Yoder's lower smoke flavor. Instead of oak, I'd use a wood that gives off a stronger smoke flavor, and use it straight, or mix it with another wood. For example, hickory or oak AND Hickory (about 60/40 oak to hickory). Using this method, I'm getting really REALLY close to matching my stick burner. In any case, I loved this video. I was very curious to see the results. Keep up the amazing work on your channel!

Mad Scientist, I completely agree with your test. Offset smokers are going to give the best tasting BBQ you can make. I have a Oklahoma Joe's offset and it makes outstanding BBQ but like you said it is time consuming and you have to baby the fire. I also use a Camp Chef pellet smoker. The first Pork Butt I smoked on the Camp Chef had way less smoke on it than what I had produced on the OK Joe offset stick burner. How I fixed that problem was I purchased two smoke tubes and I put them in the chamber during the cook and the smoke is almost as good but not quite where the offset cookers were. Love your video's brother! Keep them coming!

Hahaha!!! Died laughing at the backfire. . Sounded like someone just got executed !!! That was the best!

Nice comparison and props for doing it blind, otherwise it would have been meaningless, You do great work, Jeremy! Thanks!

I always wondered if you were secretly the heir to the Yoder kingdom...

Great video and I would agree with 99% of what you said ....the part about ceramic cooker producing less smoke flavor than a pellet cooker ... Well I have to disagree with that one because I've cooked on all of those also and I own a pellet grill and it does a great job of cooking but basically zero smoke flavor and I own a XL BGE and I can put out some dang good BBQ with plenty of smoke flavor with my EGG ....but a stick burner is Superior on flavor but it is nice to load the egg up with five or six Boston butts and go to bed get a good night's sleep and get up in the morning and finish

13 dislikes --> 13 sore Kamado owners

What brand of pellets did you use? Pellets are a huge fan for when it comes to smoke quality in a pellet grill

You can push out as much blue smoke as you would ever need for flavor out of a Primo if you knew how to use it, same with Kamado. YMMV if you don't use them and know them. Easy to dial up as much smoke as you desire with no hassle. Love your channel by the way, you are killing it

If you do another test like this again at The BBQHQ, try the M1 which is a small footprint patio stick burner and fully adjustable charcoal grill. We sell a ton of these to people coming from ceramic and pellet cookers for the exact reason you shown in your video. Just can't beat the flavor in a stick burner. Great video! Keep it up!

Great Video Mad...the results were exactly as I would have predicted as well. I got a buddy who has both a Traeger pellet smoker and the Kamado Joe, I have an offset and all of our friends basically say the same thing when we smoke together. My offset has a much better smoke flavor....hands down, period, exclamation point. Offsets definitely need to be baby sat a lot more, but the taste of the meat is worth the time. If you don't have or use an offset, you're wasting your time and putting out inferior meat.

Sweet video!