The best smokers in Australia

Smokers cook low, slow and with wood smoke. The styles differ mostly in how much of your day they take, so choose by effort first.

Questions to ask before buying a smoker in Australia

• Can you use it on a Total Fire Ban day? Not with wood, charcoal or heat beads. NSW bans solid fuel BBQs outside on those days (NSW RFS), and Victoria names food smokers fired by coals, heat beads or wood (CFA). Pellets are wood, so treat them the same.
• Is there a no-burn notice? In NSW the EPA can prohibit fires in the open on days when burning would add to air pollution (NSW RFS). Check before a long cook.
• Will the smoke bother the neighbours? In a Queensland community titles scheme, occupiers must not use a lot in a way that causes a nuisance or hazard or unreasonably interferes with another lot (Queensland Government). Those rules are about occupiers generally, so ask your committee before you start smoking briskets on a shared wall.
• Can it go in a tent, caravan or garage? No. Tasmania’s health department says never to run charcoal grills or heat-bead stoves indoors or in enclosed spaces such as caravans (Tasmanian Government), and Weber warns of carbon monoxide poisoning in houses, tents, caravans and boats (Weber charcoal guide).
• Does it need power? Pellet cabinets do. Pit Boss says keep its grills at least 91.44 cm from combustible constructions (Pit Boss Australia). Charcoal bullets and offsets need no power but you tend the fire.

Bullet smokers

A charcoal fire at the bottom, a water pan, and one or two grates above in a tall cylinder. The Weber Smokey Mountain is the reference and holds temperature for hours on a full ring of briquettes. The Matador Catalyst is the Bunnings equivalent for well under half the price, with thinner steel and a looser fit.

Offset smokers

A firebox on the side feeds heat and smoke across a horizontal chamber. Purists love them; they need a fresh split of wood every 45 minutes and the thin budget ones leak so much heat that they struggle in a breeze. The Char-Griller Competition Pro is the affordable one with steel thick enough to work.

Vertical cabinets

Pit Boss’s 3 Series stacks racks in a cabinet with a pellet fire below. Enormous capacity in a small footprint, no grilling.

Pellet grills and kamados

Both smoke well with far less attention. Pellet grills are the set-and-forget option; kamados add high-heat grilling in the same body. Each has its own guide: pellet smokers and kamados.

The picks

The Weber Smokey Mountain 37 cm is our overall pick, and the 47 cm at $999 is better for families. Choose the Competition Pro if you want to run a real fire, the Pit Boss 3 Series for volume, and the Oklahoma Joe’s Canyon if you want three cookers on one frame.

The competition

We compared nine smokers; these five aren’t picks:

• Weber Smokey Mountain 47 cm ($999 at BCF): the same smoker with more grill space, better for big families, but $400 more than the 37 cm.
• Matador Catalyst: the Bunnings take on a bullet smoker for well under half the Weber’s price, with thinner steel and a looser fit, and it’s sold only at Bunnings.
• Jumbuck offset ($198): the cheapest offset, but thin steel leaks heat and it struggles in a breeze; Bunnings only.
• Pit Boss 850 Navigator: a pellet grill rather than a dedicated smoker; it’s compared in the pellet guide.
• Kamado Joe Classic I: a kamado that smokes and grills; it’s compared in the kamado guide.