PITMASTER PEARSE

After days of extensive research and never having seen one IRL, I bit the bullet and purchased the Oaklahoma Joe's Highland offset smoker. A rash decision for such an important long term investment but hear me out...    

So why this particular brand and model I hear you ask? Well firstly I wanted an authentic Texas BBQ experience. This meant naturally gravitating to a 'stick burner' (fancy term for wooden logs/chunks) over a pellet smoker. Whilst I appreciate the need for ease, I can't but helping think pellet burners are somewhat 'cheating' and take the fun out of the cook. Shoot me . Yes, this is somewhat of a simplistic viewpoint, but surely there's a reason as to why the juggernauts of the BBQ world ALL use offsets.

Next up was deciding on the type of offset; traditional or reverse. Reverse offsets allow your meat to take on greater smoke with even temperatures throughout the cooking chamber however take longer to heat up. Personally I liked the idea of hotter and colder zones, allowing for greater flexibility to cook multiple cuts of meat at once. Traditional offset it is.

Price point and value were my primary factors which I was not willing to compromise on. Yes I was willing to pay a little more (not too much more mind you, media doesn't pay THAT well) but ultimately I wanted excellent value for- money. This meant  my future smoker, whilst an investment, had to tick several boxes; price, quality, durability, style and reliability.

Price - at a cool £500 this seemed like a fair price considering hefty import fees. Please for the love of god don't compare the UK cost v USD in America. At double the cost, but still considerably cheaper than most backyard smokers, it's sickening.

Quality - turning up in several boxes, this thing is built like a brick sh*thouse. Elegant but more inmportantly extra study. Weighing in at a cool 84kg (entering the heavyweight division here like myself) this behemoth is no, I repeat NOT, designed to be assembled without considerable help - unless of course you're prepared to pop your back, so learn from my mistake and do no repeat.

Durability - revies in this department across both sides of the pond (that's the Atlantic ocean, not a literal pond) were great in this department. Two years on and she's still in fine shape.  

Style - let's be honest here; this smoker is f*cking cool and definitely a garden showstopper.

Reliability - the saying that a good workman never blames his tools is, IMHO, absolute bullsh*t . Fortunately this smoker has never failed to deliver which either makes imortalises me as BBQing deity or this offset is truly great. Let's be honest, it's probably the latter (but just for now of course).

So there we have it. This is an absolute banger of a smoker and ticks all my boxes. I would strongly urge anyone starting or even seasoned pro's to give this brute serious consideration. Trust me here, you will not be disappointed!