Callow Retail Charcoal Smoker BBQ Grill - Black | Premium & Portable 3 in 1 Outdoor Steel & Carbon Garden Barbecue & Griller | BBQ Smoker Rack, Cooking Grate, Hanging Rack, Hooks, Thermometer & Cover

Very much torn in reviewing this so I’ll split pros and cons;+Good amount of space and the 2 racks gives you flexibility for smoking a couple of things at a time+Hanging rack and hooks is ideal for strips of meat (as per bacon picture) or fish+Cover fits well+Modular nature makes it easy to empty and light+Small enough to convince partner that you’re not going to buy a pickup truck, say yeehaw and start listening to country and western-Catagorically the worst instructions I have had on any piece of equipment or furniture ever; misses huge sections of build and doesn’t reference numerous parts, in short good luck and rely on using the photos on the box!- The build... I’m a pretty practical bloke, I’m not claiming to be a Ray Mears but I’ve put together a lot of flat pack and turn my hands to most things involving building- this thing, primarily due to the lack of instructions, took me over 2 hours to put together and I had a medley of bolts left over with no physical hole to fit them in!-Heat; despite using restaurant grade lump wood charcoal, a charcoal chimney to start and every trick I know about venting, once the water pan is in I’ve not been able to get this over 135 C- and even that is a push; fine for low and slow but dire for anything else.-Ongoing heat; regardless of vent positions the charcoal dies out, managed 4 hours out of single load of fuel but temp was sub 95 C by the end. Even with modifying charcoal basket with additional holes you’ll see your glowing red coals drop to a tepid white within an hour. It will however keep going, by morning expect nothing but ash despite appearances-Rack position- bottom rack doesn’t sit well on the brackets so effectively rests atop water bowl.So why despite all this still 3 stars? Because for low and slow smoking it’s darn good; have produced some cracking ribs, bacon and belly pork with this and I’ve used it every weekend since I got it. If you’re looking for a serious smoker then spend 3 times as much and go branded but if you want something cheap and small enough to store then this is worth a punt. Just brace yourself for the build....** 3+ years later update **It’s still going strong! This is despite the cover having been lost to high winds two years back, this being left to the elements, no real rust, still solid, still smoking! The two photos without bacon were taken Xmas 2021 to show current condition (and fact with some spatchcocking and artful arrangement you can fit a 8.5kg/ 18lbs turkey in it- 4.5hours, plenty of fruit wood for smoke; absolutely lovely!). Due to longlevity I’ve bumped this up to 4 stars as it really is better than it should be for the price.

H@T3train!ThaI am brand-new to BBQ Smoking - so I didn't want to spend £200 - £300 to find out whether I liked or whether it was worth the effort.I got this delivered on Wednesday, set it up up on Wednesday night - the instructions weren't the best, but were ok. I had to use a couple of my own nuts and bolts to complete the setup - so just bear that in mind, but not a major issue.Its recommended that you coat in the inside with cooking oil and then light it (without food) to season it. They also say this will burn off any production coatings etc. I did this as 1) they recommended it for longetivity of the smoker 2) it gave a good idea of how it works. I'd light the coals in a BBQ Kettle, then put coals in the smoker but clearing out the centre. I then put the coals from the kettle into the centre - I think the US call this the 'minion' method. The idea is that the coals will then slowly light owards from the centre rather than all at once. This gives a longer burn time without intervention. This little practice run gives you a great idea of how to control the temperature (which is essential in smoking meats) as you need to keep it around 100 degrees Celcius. Basically if it is significantly higher than 100C, then shut all the vents, when it drops, open one up, wait a while, if its still going down, open another - if its going up, close one etc. Smoking just seems to be a bit of balancing act - I got quite used to it on my first proper smoke.As temperature management is so essential - your life will be made exponentially easier with a wireless dual-probe thermometer. I found one on Amazon for £15 - this will be the best £15 you ever spend. I put one probe in the smoker (to measure the smoker temperature) and pushed the other inside the 2kg pork shoulder I was smoking (the internal temperature). You can tell the thermometer what meat you are cooking & whether you want it rare / well done etc and it will tell you the temp to aim for. So the smoker probe you want to keep around 100 / 105 and keep it there, the one inside the meat I wanted to get to 76C.It does take some getting used to it, but I was consistently keeping in the 100-110C range without too many issues, then when the meat hit 76C, I took it off. Nice and easy. If you have a scientific mind I think smoking meat will really appeal to you as it takes all the guess work out of it. You'll love tweeking the air holes and seeing what temperature difference it makes.So all in all, this is a great smoker - especially for a beginner like me. It really seemed to keep its temperature well - when it did need extra charcoal, it was just a handful here and there. It took 8 hours to do a 2kg pork shoulder and about 2.5kg of cheap Amazon "Add-on" charcoal (@ £5 for a 5kg bag). Some pro's will say use different charcoal, but that's good enough for entry level smoking. It's well constructed, looks great, comes with a very handy waterproof cover, not cheap and flimsey. Maybe you'll want to go for a pro-model in a couple of years, but by then you'll be a seasoned veteran. Even in cold weather you can monitor the temperature from indoors with wireless thermometers so I think its a all year round product.

Bought this smoker over a month and been using it each weekend before leaving a review. I have to admit, I love this smoker, and for the cost, it’s fantastic! It gets you into low and slow smoking and happy with the purchase compared to other well-known brands that are three times the cost. I still use my gas bbq and only bought this one to do low and slow cooking at the weekends.The good:- For the price, it’s a great bit of kit. Truly, you will not be disappointed with it and the money you save you can buy all the extras you need to bbq, briquettes, chimney, digital thermometer probe (why didn’t I buy one of these years ago!!), selection of wood to create the smoke, etc.- the smoker will cook for a small family, you do have two racks so could do larger cooks, but I would imagine you will struggle to get the temp up for it!- once put together, feels like it will last (with a few mods, new thermometer, another gromlets, better nuts and bolts, tap to seal the gaps)-The bad:- instructions are useless...truly useless and will take you a good few hrs to put together as EVERY BIT, is in bits hence the price- you will need to buy some extras, more nuts and a few new bolts so you can create a locking nut on the vents otherwise the vents will unscrew and fall off- the temperature gauge is useless (like most thermometers that come with BBQs) so worth buying a new one OR buying a digital thermostat that connects to your phone (best kit I’ve bought)- the gap between the door and bbq body is enormous so you will need to buy some grill gasket tap to plug the gap or all your smoke will come billowing out!Buy it, get to know how to use it and enjoy some good food!

I bought this smoker as I wanted to try this method of cooking but didn’t want to spend to money, the product arrived well packaged with no visable damage. It was easy enough to assemble and a year on the product is in still good condition, this in part due to the cover that comes with it.The first attempts at cooking with it didn’t go great due to not being able to get the smoker up to a high enough temperature, lessons I’ve learned.Use good quality charcoal bricketts, I’ve had the best result with Weber charcoalSeal the gap around the charcoal tray with tin foil thus forcing air from the vents up through the coalsIgnore the temperature sensor on the lid mine is very inaccurate, I bought a simple digital meat thermometer which via the probe holes in the side of the smoker allow you monitor the temperature accurately. I’ve knocked a star off the review due to the temperature sensor.I use this smoker regularly now and easily maintain the desired temp of between 100-120degC, using good quality coals allows smokes of up to 8hrs.I’m really pleased with this purchase as my first smoker.

I was worried about previous reviews when I bought this, but I have no regrets. I will forwarn you, there were two screws and nuts missing, but after having this a month and using it about 12 times (I smoke A LOT), I have 0 regrets.Yes I would love a large offset smoker, but I live at a small beach house, and like most places in England space is a premium. If you are going to smoke with wood, make sure you have an axe as it won't take full-on logs. I added some BBQ gasket tape around the door as a previous purchaser mentioned, and away I went.So far I've smoked 2 small briskets, a lamb shoulder, pork shoulder, ribs, several pork belly, and grilled a few steaks. Heat retention is much better than expected. It seems to hold around 150 for a solid 40 minutes once I get it going.Good smoker for a beginner or an advanced smoker like me who is desperate with what little space they have. Maybe not for a whiney Millenial who needs everything perfect. Life rarely is. It even was delivered a day early.