Charmate - Offset Smoker & BBQ - Charcoal

good for what it is definitely not a top of the range but for a starter or budget smoker works well thin metal but reasonably durable I used mine for a few years before upgrading cooked many meal on it including 12+ hour briskets and still working with no

Absolute disaster

I understand this item was cheap and was a clearance item but it was literally the biggest waste of money. The instructions were very poor, the were parts that were missing and some extra parts in the box that were not listed in the item list. The offset barrel and cooking barrel holes did not match up, the front shelf support arms were bent at the wrong angles, after hours of work finally getting it assembled and tested, it leaked smoke from pretty much everywhere and It is made of such thin metal and was almost impossible to get upto a low temperature and even harder to maintain.

Charmate banjo offset smoker

Received the smoker a lot quicker than expected, fired it up and burnt of the manufactured smell. Then next day cooked some pork ribs and beef short ribs in it, little hard to maintain temp due to being tin and not cast iron, but turned out beautifully, currently testing out whole chicken and duck and it's looking good!

Don’t buy

The bbq is even lower quality than I expected for the price. The lids don’t fit, there are gaps of at least s centimetre around each one. After 4 weeks the top has significant surface rust and I’ll have to sand and repaint. I didn’t expect much for the price but it’s just not worth buying this one

Great bang for buck

Wanted a cheap entry point into smoking but with something that could also be used as a grill for family BBQs.This grill ticked both boxes and has so far delivered. It's worth noting that I'm using indirect charcoal cooking in the main fire pit as I've needed the convenience to move coals for direct grilling in the same session - am yet to fire up the offset box.I have noticed the smoke leakage mentioned by others here - this just means starting with less fuel to achieve lower temps for 'low and slow' and adding more fuel more often. There's a site that has tips on how to easily and safely mod your offset cooker to seal gaps as they all have them. The two mods this one needs is fireproof gasket at the top near the hings, and two clamps to keep the bottom lip of ... MoreWanted a cheap entry point into smoking but with something that could also be used as a grill for family BBQs.This grill ticked both boxes and has so far delivered. It's worth noting that I'm using indirect charcoal cooking in the main fire pit as I've needed the convenience to move coals for direct grilling in the same session - am yet to fire up the offset box.I have noticed the smoke leakage mentioned by others here - this just means starting with less fuel to achieve lower temps for 'low and slow' and adding more fuel more often. There's a site that has tips on how to easily and safely mod your offset cooker to seal gaps as they all have them. The two mods this one needs is fireproof gasket at the top near the hings, and two clamps to keep the bottom lip of the lid flush. I notice once flush the smoke stays in.This hasn't affected my ability to grill delicious food though.So, for another $50 of parts to mod this thing, I can still come out ahead of other cookers and have the full smoke effect.One advantage of cooking like a kettle in the main pit is when you need to smoke something on medium heat and quickly sear to finish. For instance, I had an hour (excluding coal starting time) to do a whole, quartered chicken, unmarinated. I prepped with oil and parpika, then began indirect with coals either side of a single grill (yes, you can move coals and the grill plates around - it's wonderful!) - got to about 65c and then finished to 75c by pushing the coals undeneath and grilling with damper right open.We have pruned a cherry tree so I'm experimenting with some wood from that - but I also have apple wood chips.Tips to get the best out of this:- Get a bluetooth heat thermomenter. I invested in the iGrill Mini from Weber but you can get cheaper ones from hardware stories is money is tight;- Seal it up if smoke loss is an issue - otherwise learn how to work with it.- Use the main pit if you can - it's wonderful. At the very least this is a MASSIVE charcoal grill, and a wonderful one at that;- Season it well to help prevent rust - oil everywhere on the interior of both chambers and let it cook on medium to low for a couple of hours. If you keep it outdoors, season the outside too.- Get a metal spak filling blade to use as a cheap barrel scraper. It will scrape off ash and fat with ease, moving with the contour of the barrel.- Invest in a cheap 'butler's table' to fold out and keep nearby. The included bench space is nice - and a surprisng inclusion given the more expensive 'Tex' model doesnt' have one - but the hand of the barrel lid and get in the way if/when you need to open or close it with items on the bench. A butler's table ($20 from Aldi recently) will give you some affordable and necessary prep space.

Great first smoker

I got this smoker a few weeks back and it has been fantastic so far, I read through some of the other reviews and added some seals around the doors and this did the trick ensuring a tight seal and reduced the leaks. Held it temp well I guess. But as this is my first smoker I’m none the wiser

Lots of gaps, instructions difficult at best

Ive just assembled my new smoker, spent a lot of time trying to reshape it to lessen the gaps, instructions were tricky to figure out and started to surface rust inside already. Probably ok tp learn with but may be worth paying a little extra for a better model

Not great but fixable

The smoker has very thin sheet metal so doesn't hold a lot of heat. It also has massive holes around both the cooking chamber door and the firebox door, so holding the smoke and heat in the cooking chamber is not great, which means you go through a lot of charcoal and wood chips trying to keep the cooking chamber temperatures up high enough to do a slow smoke at 220F (which is quite low) and that is with the top vent and firebox vent fully open. I am going to try sealing up the doors with some fibreglass rope that BBQ shops sell and see if that fixes it as this issue is not uncommon especially with cheap smokers. Other than that though the smoker is decent for the price, and if you can get the heat high enough and hold it, the smoked meats it is able to produce are ... MoreThe smoker has very thin sheet metal so doesn't hold a lot of heat. It also has massive holes around both the cooking chamber door and the firebox door, so holding the smoke and heat in the cooking chamber is not great, which means you go through a lot of charcoal and wood chips trying to keep the cooking chamber temperatures up high enough to do a slow smoke at 220F (which is quite low) and that is with the top vent and firebox vent fully open. I am going to try sealing up the doors with some fibreglass rope that BBQ shops sell and see if that fixes it as this issue is not uncommon especially with cheap smokers. Other than that though the smoker is decent for the price, and if you can get the heat high enough and hold it, the smoked meats it is able to produce are excellent, you just need to be on top of stoking the fire and replacing the wood chips in order to get the right results. I think if you sealed the doors up this smoker would be excellent for the price, as long as you remember that this isn't a $3000 smoker that is sealed from the factory and using 3/8 steel to hold the heat.

POOR QUALITY EVEN AT DISCOUNTED PRICE

This unit is poor quality. Instructions of how to put it together extremely poor. Picture on box did not even match the instructions. Instructions were very poor , minute and you are better of guessing what goes where.Try to season unit and 3 hours in still not can't get up to 150 degrees.Heat and smoke leak from every where. This unit will need extra money to be spent on sealants and heat resistant gap tape.Not worth the money at any price, very disappointing.

Terrible to assemble

Some parts were missing and a lot of the items do not align. Luckily my husband is handy & was able to redrill holes and align it. Took ages to assemble due to bad instructions. Otherwise we are really excited to cook with it tonight