Pellet Grills/Smokers are just that, a combo. They do a great job of grilling meat. I put a seer on my steaks first in a cast iron pan... They smoke OK, actually pretty good, for little work, but it's obviously not as good as an actual stick smoker...

I wouldn't eat the pellets if I were you.

:doh!: Seems like you're getting quality advice here

I've always looked at it as each smoker/grill is different.

Each persons taste/preference is different.

There are a ton of ways you can smoke or grill meat and someone will disagree.

My favorite part of grilling and smoking is the actual act of standing next to the grill while poking around trying to come up with ideas.

If I did have one opinion to offer would be to buy cheap meat at first. Grab you a cold ones(s) and spend a weekend messing with it. You can change so much when smoking meats. Everything from prep to cooking times and temps. Don't waste a lot of money on an expensive piece of meat until you get YOUR recipe and time/temps down.

Just my 2 cents

THis might be worth a watch. I've always found this guy to give honest and good advice.

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I have a Yoder YS640 Pellet Grill Smoker. I absolutely love it. Smoking has as much, if not more, to do with prepping the meat as it does smoking it. So, I scoff at all the “traditionalists” that say pellet grills can’t provide the same smoke and flavor as stick burners. It’s a load of BS

Enjoy the pellet grill. They are fun and easy to use.

You can get plenty of smoke in your meat from a pellet smoker. I just did two pork butts and a brisket in my pellet smoker and they turned out great. I also have a stick burner. One thing you can do with a pellet smoker that you can’t do with a stick burner is to cook food over night. Throw your meat on the smoker at a temp of around 200 degrees and let it cook low and slow while you sleep. Turn the temp up when you wake up and the food is ready sooner. There’s fun in managing a fire then there are times you just want the food because you have other things to do also.

Yep, that's the exact model I have. The beast weighs about as much as a small bus and does a fantastic job of smoking. The thickness of the steel really helps me out when it gets colder around here as well. I have had stick burners in the past and as you stated, you can't tell the difference in the end product.

You know I suffer from PTSD right? Thanks for starting my Monday with a bang.

And then you did exactly what I said you would.

ROFL

Should have never said any thing about a stick burner. Just not into pellet.

For those those that like their pellet smokers. I have no issue there. You do you, boo boo.

But a traeger box store knockoff isn't going to perform as well like a yoder.

What did the yoder run, $2500 without the competition cart? Big difference in the $300-500 smokers in the OP than the professional 2+ thousand dollar Yoder smokers.

https://www.yodersmokers.com/pellet/...-pellet-grill/

For best results, pre-soak your pellets in liquid smoke.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...edish_chef.jpg

I've always been a bbq purest, would only smoke over wood and grill over charcoal. Then last year my buddy wanted me to make some ribs on his new RecTeq pellet smoker for his daughter's graduation party. I offered to make them at home on my offset then bring them over but he insisted so after warning him they wouldn't be as good as they normally are I said fine.

As much as I hate to admit it, they were nearly identical to what I've made for years on my WSM and offset. So I bought a RecTeq Stampede for myself and haven't regretted it at all. The only thing I don't like about it is it's making me lazy and I've been finding myself using it more than my stick burners.

Do you really?

A good friend took first in ribs at the Jacks Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue contest a few years ago with a pellet smoker.

As usual, you don't know what the **** you are talking about.