Smokers

Short answer: at a steady 225–250°F smoker temperature, plan on roughly 30–40 minutes per pound — about 5–8 hours for a 10–12 lb bird up through 9–13 hours for an 18–20+ lb bird. But unlike ribs, brisket or pork butt, turkey doesn’t have a separate “cook it further for tenderness” number. The USDA’s poultry safety […]

Short answer: at a steady 225–250°F, plan on roughly 3 to 5 hours for baby back ribs, 4.5 to 6 hours for St. Louis-style, and 5 to 7 hours for spare ribs — spares are the biggest, meatiest cut of the three, so they take the longest. But ribs don’t have one clean “done” temperature […]

Our honest, research-led guide to controlling temperature on any smoker — offset, charcoal, pellet or electric/propane — with the intake-vs-exhaust rule, the 10–15 minute patience rule, troubleshooting for hot/cold/swingy fires, and the safety points that matter most.

A vertical smoker stacks its food above the heat in a tall, space-efficient cabinet or bullet shape — so you get a lot of cooking area in a small footprint. The two most popular fuels are charcoal (bullet smokers like the Weber Smokey Mountain, and vertical charcoal cabinets) and propane (gas cabinets that light with […]

An offset smoker — also called a “stick burner” or horizontal offset — burns wood or charcoal in a separate side firebox and draws that heat and smoke sideways through the main chamber before it exits a chimney. It’s the most hands-on way to cook barbecue, and for a lot of people that ritual is […]

The best smokers for beginners in 2026 — 13 forgiving electric, pellet, charcoal and propane smokers ranked for ease of use, with honest pros, cons, price bands and a plain guide to which fuel type is easiest to learn on.

The best electric smokers for 2026 — 11 plug-in cabinet smokers ranked for beginners, value, capacity and durability, with honest pros and cons, a safety guide, and the Char-Broil recall you need to know about.