Model 150 from year 2000

Your 3 areas of possible concern are the controller, electric element and door seal. The Cookshack website lists the replacement costs as $862 (controller) $114 (element) seal not listed for the 100/150...probably less than $100.

My suggestion would be for the owner to set the unit to a temp of 250 45 minutes before you arrive. Bring a digital probe with you in order to verify. If the temp checks out and seals look good, you've found yourself a helluva deal.

The SM150 does not have a door seal at all. The actual door does a good job sealing up once both latches are in place

I would get the serial number ahead of time and call Tony at Cookshack customer support he can look up the smoker based on its serial number and tell you exactly when it was made and what type of controller it has.

Also Tony can provide you instructions how to bypass the door switch if it is still working

I would check out the LCD display to see how well it looks i.e. is it easy to read or does it look faint or hard to read


I would also agree to check and make sure it heats up and inspect the element the metal wood box and the shield that is welded in place that is directly above the wood box

The racks are probably nickel plated since that is the standard rack type

If the racks are nickel plated and are not in good shape you can replace the racks with new nickel plated ones or stainless ones

The SM150 is a commercial workhouse and they last for decades.

Good luck

Only too eager to reply to this one.
I had an old used SM008, predecessor to the SM009, and I too had real estate envy - needed larger shelves, wanted the additional temperature levels available that the SM150 offered.

I found mine on CL, it too was a long drive, but I went there, we plugged it in and I hit the Brisket preset button and the display did show the temp (at first only 100 degrees (as designed) and cook time remaining (12 hours). Shut it off, then hit the chicken/ribs preset and watched it setup correctly.

This smoker had been in a ribs place that failed, the owner joined a volunteer fire department and they used it like crazy at the firehouse. But as another poster said, they are commercial units and are meant to run 24/7 for years. It's now a couple years later, I have not had a speck of trouble with it, last year I got stainless steel shelves and it's the best. I can easily do half a dozen slabs of ribs, some chickens and a pan of baked beans all at once. I have a beach umbrella attached to the railing behind the smoker so even in snowy weather can do a cook - this one was a mexican style pork butt for carnitas, it was great !!

Mine is a 96 and was used as a workhorse until around 2000 when I got it.I love it and if you let it cook it can run the job by itself.I tell people that I could teach a chimpanzee with a cellphone how to cook on it and be better than most bbq joints in their area.

I have too many cookers,so I sent it up to my sons who use it on the beef cattle operations.They load it in the truck,haul it anyplace they have a plain electric hookup and ignore it until close to time to eat.

It has set beachside in the nightly salt storms and never misses a lick.