Hello all!! I am new to the forum and Cookshack. My 10 yo Brinkman electric smoker bit the dust and I assumed it was time to move up. The 55 was delivered yesterday and is seasoning as we speak.
I know I am going to regret not making the move to Cookshack 5 years ago just from what I have seen so far from the unit.

I am located in No. Virginia, the Fairfax area and spend half the year grilling and smoking out back on the patio. Also like to roast my own coffee, enjoy cigars and sip on bourbon.

I look forward to participating in what looks like a great forum!!

Hello cigar & welcome to the club.who knows you might even learn to smoke coffee beans when you've had too much of that good bourbon-ha-ha,let us know how the 1st cook goes.

Welcome Cigar! Congrat's on your purchase.

Congrats on your new 55. I jsut ordered my first smookette 008 last nite, so I have a while till it gets here to Southern Oregon. Guess I'll keep reading all these forums and and try to learn something. Sure is mouth watering reading about all the stuff you are cooking.
c ya

I envy you. A good cigar, a good drink and good que. It doesn't get any better than that unless you have a Porsche in the garage. I have to settle for a poor man's Porsche, a BMW 325I. At least I drive on highways built to run with the Big Dogs.

Well shucks Papa, we got plenty highways 'round here designed for the "Big Dogs" it's just that we ain't 'lowed to drive LIKE the big dogs. Most roads 'round these parts the local Polizei get their knickers in a knot if we go more than 'bout 115 KPH. As I recall from when I was in Germany, the speed limit on the Autobahn was, "Drive as fast as you're man enough to." Yeeehaaaaw!!!! My kind o' place.

When I was over there I had some kind of 70's model Opel GT. It sucked.

The roads are still wide open but we have a recommended speed limit of 130 kph or 81 mph. If you go faster than that and are involved in a crash, then you can get a ticket for reckless driving. Actually, the worst car accidents are on the secondary roads. I've seen pictures of cars where they look like they went through a paper shredder. Idiots try to drive 100 mph on a country road, meet a curve and then become airborn. Mr. Tree always wins.

In 2000 I was selling my wife's 1997 Mustang GT with a 4.8L engine. The GI I showed it to was afraid to take it above 80 mph on the autobahn. However, he was one of those idiots that took the car up to 100 mph on a country road. I had to grab his arm and tell him to knock it off. I thought I was history on that test drive. He did buy the car and I looked in the paper everyday to see if he ended up wrapping it around a tree. I never saw his name in the paper so I'll assume he is still alive and he did not crash the car.

For Hippie, remember that an Opel GT was another fine General Motors product. The fact that they are laying off 25,000 US workers speaks for itself. Opel in Europe is also having problems.