New owner of a SM-009-2

Well, I was in the market for my first electric smoker, but had ruled out the Cookshack due to price. I was going to settle on a lesser model and called a local dealer who carries them, but he told me he had none in stock. He also told me he carried Cookshack, but he had none of those in stock either -- except for one unit that was damaged in shipping.

Huh? Exactly how damaged are we talking? Well, after a quick visit and inspection, I was the proud new owner of a brand new, DEEPLY discounted Cookshack complete with a few character marks!

I own three water smokers (R2D2) types, a big, cast iron offset smoker and multiple other gas and charcoal grills, but this is my first foray into the electric cooking world. I'm having a great time "setting and forgetting" which is exactly what I wanted.

A few initial attempts came out overly wooded and bitter, but I think I'm getting that under control.

For ribs use 1 medium chunck of hickory or apple wood and one charcoal briquette (I picked up that idea somewhere on a forum). I've found that about six hours at 225 yields a very nice, fall off the bone rib. Actually, on my last and best smoke I lowered the temp to 200 in the middle of the cook and raised it back to 225 for the last hour or so.

I am still having trouble getting shoulders right, but enjoying the experimentation!