I've owned this product for about 4 years and have cooked just about every smokeable meat countless times; every cut of pork, sausages, brisket, salmon, chicken, Thanksgiving turkeys, and so on. I've only now just gotten around to writing a review. There's so much to write. I don't even know where to begin. Oh muses of smoke and fire, I invoke you now.
Some people look at it and think, "I just paid $70 for some sheet metal? Lame." Yes, you're paying for some sheet metal, but what you're really paying for with the Smokenator is American ingenuity. This isn't an elaborate design created by a rocket scientist; this is an ordinary person's great idea to solve a common problem. Don Thompson, rest his soul, looked at a big dead-ass turkey and thought, "There's gotta be a way I can cook this thing on my Weber without drying it out." Necessity is the mother of invention. It's rare when a product does exactly what it is designed to do and offers so much versatility with such a small learning curve. Don's instructions are so detailed and thorough that they basically taught me the principles of heat control, not just for the Smokenator, but for all barbecue cooking methods.
Everything I've made on the Smokenator has turned out amazing, but it particularly excels with pork butts and poultry. My Christmas turkey in 2010 is still the stuff of legend. One thing that I really like about the Smokenator is that once you learn how to control the temperature well enough, you can basically create any range of heat you want/need--from the ulta low 'n slow 180-200 range to 350 for poultry and higher. Temps can be controlled in three ways: bottom vent, top vent, and removing/leaving the water pan. Once you've used it as much as I have, you learn which method is appropriate for your situation.
Now, with that all said, there really is one thing that could be improved about the design: the water pan is simply too small. As other reviewers have mentioned, there is a way to get around this, and I'll get to that soon, but what I really want to do is share a collection of tricks that, when combined, get you the most out of your Smokenator. Here's what I've learned after using it for 4 years:
1. Get the flip top grate. This is imperative. It will allow you to quickly and easily add fuel and wood chunks to the cavity. If you don't have one or can't afford it, use a hacksaw to saw off the bars over the cavity.
2. The water pan is primarily a heat-sink. The steam it creates is certainly nice, but first and foremost it is there to regulate temperature. To do this, it does not need to be in the cavity with the charcoal. It can simply sit on top of the grate over the hole. This allows you to get MUCH more fuel into the fuel cavity, so much that you can get close to 8-9 hours with a single load. That is astounding.
3. I knew the water pan was a pre-made thing that must come in different sizes. I tried for years to figure out what it was called so I could buy a bigger one. After searching in bread pan sections of kitchen stores for years, I finally stumbled across what I was looking for. It's called an "anti-jam steam table pan," and yes, you can buy them on Amazon:
Excellante Quarter Size 4-Inch Deep 24 Gauge Anti Jam Pans. With this pan, you'll be able to increase your water capacity from 1-2 hours to 4-6. That means more uninterrupted smoking time.
4. Use hardwood briquettes. I've found Trader Joe's briquettes to be outstanding. They last twice as long as Kingsford and cost the same amount of money. That said, Kingsford briquettes are a solid product that always give you consistent and quality results. Kingsford competition briquettes are the best fuel source I've ever used, but they're hard to find and more expensive. However, if you can find them, go for it!
With this set-up, once you get your desired temps dialed in, you'll be able to leave your Weber unattended for up to 4 hours. That's enough to go play a round of golf or take the kids to the pool. The Smokenator is one of my all-time favorite purchases. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. RIP Don Thompson.