WSM question..

[London Irish]

Good afternoon all,

like many others on here, I've spent hours deliberating the pros and cons of the different bullet type smokers available to us. At present, I think a 47cm WSM will suit my needs, not to mention desires . But thinking longer term, I may want to add to the cooking capacity. I know that a Pro Q stacker will fit but I'm lead to believe that the lid fits maybe a bit too snuggly and the fact that the rim of the lid overlaps the stacker section, does this cause any issues with condensation etc?
Do any of you experts have any experience with combining the two systems?
Incidently, I've emailed Weber to ask if they have any future plans of manufacturing 'stackers', will feedback when I hear.

Cheers,

John

[Steve]

ProQ used to do a specific WSM stacker, I don't know they still do. It's not just a stacker from an E20 or Frontier, neither of those would fit.

I don't actually know anyone who has used the WSM stacker to be honest but maybe someone will chime in.

[London Irish]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I've done some more research on the Pro Q expander and the feedback is quite consistant...lid too tight unless you take a duct crimping tool to it and 'gunk' dripping down the outside due to the overhanging lid.

Therefore, I've done a complete u-turn and now opting for a Pro Q, purely down to versatility reasons. I need a lidded portable to cook joints down the van and I like the idea of having flexible capacity.

I appreciate that you along with others consider the WSM a superior unit but for a mere mortal like myself who's just in it for the pleasure and learning, I think a Pro Q will suffice quite nicely

[London Irish]

oh and p.s....

had a reply from Weber regarding whether they're planning on manufacturing an expander unit and their answer was 'no, not at present'.

[Steve]

There's no doubt you can cook great food on a Pro Q. I'm sure you'll be more than happy with it.

I'm not surprised Weber have no plans to do an extender, other than where they've changed parts to reuse common parts (e.g water bowl and handles) they've done very few updates.

I do wish they'd do a couple of things like probe eyelets, handles on the middle section etc but I guess they don't need to as they sell as they are

[Verminskti]

You know that's what annoys me about the WSM and pushes me to buy the ProQ. Despite the ahem similarities with the WSM design ProQ seem to actually be innovating. Probe holes, extra stackers etc. Weber seem to only innovate when it can be sold as an accessory such as the lid holder or the charcoal pockets. Don't get me wrong, I worked a friend's weber round his house the other week and it was an absolute dream to use and I do view them as being 'the daddy' but the lack of innovation annoys the engineer in me.

[keith157]

Maybe the believe the old adage of if it ain't broke don't fix it, maybe they need to ask more people's opinions?

[Steve]

It frustrates me that they don't update the features but from their point of view I guess they're not going to spend on unnecessary r&d to improve the market leading product when there's no competitor to take a chunk out of its market share.

If the ProQ's were as good then it would be a different story I guess. I had ProQ's before the WSM's and always wondered why people would pay more for a smaller cooker with less features, then I bought one to see what all the hype was about, the rest is history

ProQ had to innovate to set themselves apart but innovation is not always good. I think the modular construction of the ProQ's probably has the greatest detrimental effect on the cooking. After all both units are mass produced and subject to certain quality issues. With the proQ you have more joins and thus more air leaks.

The engineer in me does kind of enjoy doing the mods myself as well my new 22.5" is getting quite a going over this winter

[London Irish]

Just want to say a big THANK YOU to all the advice I've received regarding what smoker to buy, thank you.
I must have changed my mind about ten times....WSM or ProQ....ProQ or WSM.....

I eventually opted to purchase a 47 WSM and it's chugging away very nicely at the moment with a huge turkey crown, spuds and chanterelle carrots. The turkey has been on for a good few hours and I added the extra bits a while ago. Cauliflower cheese being prepped in the kitchen along with chilli, honey and sesame parsnips. Mrs Irish will be making her spicy white wine gravy (that she's always refused to give me the recipe for!) to accompany.

I'm a very happy man!

[keith157]

John I'm shocked it's not like you to make a spur of the moment decision


Was that oil/butter stuff okay???