Broil King Smoke Offset XL Smoker 32-Inch Charcoal Grill

I bought this approximately 6 weeks ago from @bbqbarnuk and am really happy.
This is the 2020 version, so no dampers between the firebox and the smoke chamber, so this seems to have fixed the "i can't get temperature in the cook chamber" fault.
The double walled and gasket'd cook chamber door is well made and seals well. The firebox although has the double wall, isnt gasket'd which is a shame, but does seal well.

This is a heavy well made unit that holds good temperature's and holds onto the temperature well. Mine was already fully built and delivered built by @bbqbarnuk they did a good job on the assembly.

All ive done is season and cook on it and its been great, the paint hasnt discoloured anywhere and its been used 2 or 3 times a week in the last 6 weeks the only fault i have had ,is the distortion of the tray in the cook side when using it as a bbq, but good stainless will distort , this is the only fault and i as a fabricator can live with this.

I have had the offset smoker for a couple of months now, and have smoked pork shoulder, brisket, ribs (many types), and also grilled steaks kebabs, burgers etc. My experience does not tally with some of the negative reviews on this site, but I can't deny people seem to have had issues with temperature. The unit appears to have been redesigned in a few areas, and all I can say is I had non of these issues.

I had originally intended to get an Egg type smoker, but after doing some research found that they lacked some flexibility when wanted to do a large standard grill session with steaks etc. Some forums had people advocating getting an Egg and a standard BBQ, which seems mad to me.

Up steps the offset smoker. You can slow cook and smoke any joints you like, then pull this off the grill and fire up the charcoal in the main chamber for the burgers and steaks. This flexibility makes the offset smoker great value, even at the price point of the Broil King.

My experience with the Broil King Offset Smoker specifically:
- Some assembly issues. The instructions didn't match the video or booklet. Broil King confirmed this was because of a redesign on some aspects of the unit. This was my one negative experience, but Broil King support were excellent and made it right.
- The seals are fine. I mean they leak a little, but only when the input and output dampers are not configured correctly. I have smoked pork shoulders and got perfect smoke rings.
- Temperature regulation is fine. Takes some practise but able to hold around 105c or up to 170c easily. You wouldn't want to go much out of this range for smoking anyway or else you would ruin whatever you are smoking. If you do then a small amount of charcoal in the cook box to the side would give it a boost.
- Build quality is good, money seems to have been spent in the right areas, i.e. the dampers are well engineered, and the grills are high quality when seasoned a couple of times.
- The damper between chambers has been removed in a redesign. Presumably this was a source of temperature issues.
- Agree with previous reviews on the ash pan. This design could be improved to catch more of the ash.

Tips:
- When lighting the firebox for a smoke, follow the instructions which says to put unlit charcoal to the left of the firebox, and empty a lit chimney starter on the right. This means the charcoal burns right to left and the smoker can be left unattended and still maintain the correct temperature. I also put clusters of smoking chips at intervals meaning they will give a fresh injection of smoke at regular intervals.
- The dampers are marked with 5 notches for amount of openness. Because of the clever way the dampers are engineered these notches represent a linear adjustment. If you want a higher temperature open the firebox and chimney dampers together. There is no point opening just the firebox damper if the air can't get through the whole smoker.
- Resist opening the cook box lid, let the thermometer do the checking for you. Every time you open the lid you have to start again heating the cook box.
- Only use the grills you need when cooking anything! If you leave in grills you aren't using you will have a lot of cleaning to do!
- Once finished cooking, I clean the grills and brush with oil before opening all the dampers to raise the temperature. This re-seasons the grills between uses and can happen while you eat.

After four years and a few self made modifications, the Broil King Smoke Offset XL is my go to smoker for that authentic barbecue smoke flavor. Pork Butts, Ribs, Brisket, it can handle it all.

I actually won my smoker from Brady's Mears in Waterloo and it has been much fun to learn how to use. I have done many different meats including a medium rare boneless leg of lamb, a reverse sear trip-tip and last week tgeBrazilian cut picanha also as a reverse sear. The searing was done on my gas bbq. I have added a Bluetooth thermometer from Maverick as I suspected that the built in thermometers not accurate. My only question is about the finish around the fire box. It has weathered severely. Can it be painted with a high temp paint?

I have had this grill for about 5 years and have had offset smokers for over 20 years. This one is by far the best. Lost one of the plastic evening feet during set up and customer service sent me a whole leg to replace it! Have friends with $2,000 grills trying to duplicate my turkey and brisket to no avail. Definitely recommend this grill to anyone ready to step up to he next level of offset grilling but not willing to commit crazy money for a hobby.

I had a lot of problems with customer service and getting spare or missing parts but the smoker itself is excellent and as was said fills the gap between cheap ones and the ones that cost thousands.

In the world of off-sets you either have to get the 100.00 home improvement special or order a 600 lb 2000 dollar beast from Texas......until now. Broil King has created an off-set that is affordable yet well thought out. Stainless Steel in all the right places. The fit and finish is excellent. This off-set holds temps well and works as advertised. I would have given it 5 stars but it is suggested to use lump charcoal and I would have like to have used oak splits. That's OK, I still love my Broil King Smoke Offset Smoker.

I bought this grill/smoker a month ago, it has been a great grill and an excellent smoker. My only complaint is that even though a got a good seasoning on the inside the paint has started to bubble and peel on the inside. Besides that I it has been flawless, decent gauge steel (13 gauge I believe) which is thicker than your 200 dollar smokers but not as heavy as the 2,000 dollar smokers

I bought this smoker in December of 2020 from Lowes. It was on clearance and since then I have not seen this smoker available unfortunately.

Background:
I got into charcoal grilling sometime in 2011 and have not looked back. Sometime in 2014 I got into smoking and since that time I have been looking for a product that offers lots of room and great smoke flavour (my last smoker was a vertical water smoker, 18" cooking grates).

THE BAD
After many uses (at least once per weekend and once per week), I have a few issues but ultimately I am very happy with this for the price I paid.

Grilling
Sorry to say but the grilling option has just not panned out as I had hoped. Things seem to take longer to grill on this and come out dry; it is simply harder to manage than a traditional charcoal grill. I'm not sure why I cannot master this aspect of the smoker but, since I bought it as a smoker and not a grill, I felt the grilling was a bonus that just has not materialised. As well, when I get the charcoal into the metal trays, the trays warp as does the steel at the front of the smoker; it was not designed to handle the heat.

Paint
Unfortunately, it appears that the paint on the firebox is cooking off. When I have the firebox very hot (full on flames), I get a bad burning-chemical smell that I presume is coming from the paint (which is cracking and falling off around the top of the firebox). This has not affected the meat that I know of, but is concerning of course, because it could be imparting chemicals into my meat and speaks to potential longevity.

Steel
The steel appears to be 2mm and should be at minimum 3mm. However, aside from the warping of the front of the unit when attempting to grill, this has not affected anything as you will see below.

Airflow
The dampers to allow for air flow are simply not large enough, and the door to the firebox effectively remains open the entire cook to maintain the heat necessary to combust the wood. This may have to do in part with the short chimney, which does not provide enough of a draw to create the necessary air flow needed.

Fuel
At the end of the day, it appears to me that attempting to use actual splits instead of a combo of wood chunks and charcoal would not work out in part because of the air flow issue and also because of the paint issue.

Sealing
The firebox side and main door did not come with any sealing material and I am not sure why.

Tarp
For some reason, I have had a very difficult time finding a tarp for this unit. I gave up and simply bought a large BK tarp. It works, but I would prefer that this smoker came with a tarp meant specifically for it. For $1,000, just add an extra $50 and provide a tarp with it.

Conclusion
What would make this better:
1. thicker steel in the front to prevent warping;
2. larger intake dampers and/or longer chimney;
3. better quality paint;
4. firebox sealing;
5. a tarp.

THE GOOD
Despite the above, I have found a method to use this smoker and have not had any failures. Everything smoked comes out perfect every time, the fire is easy to manage and this is an incredibly efficient smoker.

Rotisserie Compatible
Broil King offers a rotisserie for this unit and I am very excited to try it out.

Fuel Efficiency
Despite the 2mm steel on the cooking chamber, this unit both gets up to temperature quickly and maintains that temperature with very little fuel. My recommendation is to use lump charcoal instead of briquettes. The briquettes do not seem to get hot enough without using a lot, whereas the lump requires little more than a handful every hour or so. I find that a bag of charcoal lasts me several all-day smokes. To provide a comparison, my charcoal grill will burn through a bag of charcoal in 3-4 cooks.

Under-Grill Trays
The trays are a great idea. I think the trays are supposed to replace the baffle used in older models to provide better heat and smoke distribution. I can tell you that it works, and the temperature variance from one side to the other is negligible. The trays also catch some of the fat drippings, and you can place a pan directly on the trays if so desired. The meat cooks evenly and is full of that wonderful smokey flavour.

Cast-Iron Grates
I love the cast iron grates. Be sure to season them but BK offers replacement grates which is nice. The grates I suspect add to the superior heat distribution.

Cooking Surface
This really goes without saying; there is lots of cooking surface to work with and that has been wonderful!

Fire Management
I have found two ways to run the fire. The first is to get some lump charcoal going, close the doors (but leave the dampers open mostly) when up to temperature and simply place chunks of wood in the firebox. The chunks eventually combust (not fully) just enough to provide that thin blue smoke, so long as the chunks are about 2 inches away from the lit charcoal.

The other way to do this is to have a full on fire with your charcoal, adding the chunks directly to the lit charcoal. For this option, you have to leave the firebox side door open and warm up the chunks before hand (the traditional way).

Both options are relatively easy and work well, and require very little charcoal to keep going. As above, I am hesitant to try full on splits but will be doing so at some point this summer to see what happens.

Cleanup
Cleanup is nice and easy. This may be the case with all off-set smokers but the ash-catchers, the trays and the sectioned grates make this pretty easy.

Searbox
It is very nice to have a searbox to reverse sear whatever you are smoking if so desired. I do this often and it is especially nice when smoking beef roasts.

Longevity
I really should not comment on longevity because I have only had this unit for about 6 months. However, other than the paint on the top of the firebox, there is nothing that raises concern for me respecting longevity. I suspect I will have this unit for at least 10 years, if not longer.

Satisfaction
At the end of the day, I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. It has provided great food and great fun. Once this pandemic is over, I will be putting the additional size to good use.

CONCLUSION

Feature suggestions:
1. Make the chimney taller. The current one does not provide much of a draw.
2. Firebox screws -- need thicker screws. These will rust over time due to extreme heat and outdoor use. The whole firebox rests on 6 screws.
3. baffle -- one of the smoke diffusers should bend upward to act as a baffle plate.
4. cleanout -- the firebox and cookbox side door should be cut to the bottom with no ledge to aid sweeping of ashes. The provided ash tray won't catch everything. Ash accelerates rusting and needs to be cleaned out regularly.

I'm very happy with this smoker. Just a few issues I have found. 1) Needs a thicker gauge steel does not hold heat well. 2) The fuel consumption is very high do to there not being enough draft.
3) need to add a collector type smoke stack on the left. (which I'm modifying as I review) 4) Smoke stack should be higher as stated in a previous review. 5) would be nice to add a quality built charcoal box as an accessory. 6) the air intake vents should be at the bottom of the firebox door Not in the middle. 7) those dial type vents are not very good for air flow. You want the air to come in from bottom of firebox. No sense in blowing air across the top of charcoal. 8) Tuning plates and baffle plates should be an added accessory. I will do another review and add pictures after my modifications are done.