My homemade smoker

Well,briskets are usually the final tests for most cooks,and the Cookshack was designed to cook that,a half century ago.

Still the best.

I don't think you will ever find anyone that says a Bradley is a brisket cooker.We can leave that to other discussions.

In comps ,most cooks present slices of flat,as it is neat/clean/lean and displays well.

Restaurants cook them all the same together,so they can offer the flat as slices for the dinner plate,and often chop the point for sandwiches.

Out in brisket country they slice them together,as diners may feel the fat layer is the flavor.

Better cooks,serve the flat to diners,and recook the point for themselves.

That is where the flavor/consistency,etc lies.

Just my $0.02

Thanks for the comments on the brisket Tom. Didn't mean to demean the cookshack by comparing it to a Bradley. I just started in the smoking game and do not know enough about either to comment. I do know, intuitively, that smoke was around and used for cooking/preserving before either.
I feel like I might have made a mistake by not going for the cryovac whole brisket. There was an awful lot of fat (waste) on it. I'll go for it the next time anyway to try it out. George

As someone who has the classic smoker like you have built, the R2D2 smoker, and the brinkly with the side tin can....the cookshack smokette has taken my meat to the max. I used to laugh at my friends and make comments about how an electric smoker is for the weak. Well....I am weak and love the results.

No more slaving over a fire for me...and in Colorado that is a big slave. My next smoker will be the Amerique.

You think Colorado is tough? Try Florida today or most any other day in the spring summer and fall. It's 90 out there and the stack is smoking with brisket in the barrel. I'd rather have the Colorado weather where I was headed after finishing school, but, I never made it.
I did not mean to imply that sticks are better than kw's. As a matter of fact, I only looked at other smoker ideas after I was already into building this one. I've had the copper water tank for some 15 years cut in half and sitting in the yard. I got the bug recently and embarked on the project.
I have a friend who is looking to buy an electric unit. I will try to convince him to get a Cookshack just to see if I want one later. For now I'll just sweat the old fasnioned way.

Problem with Colorado is that using charcoal can be a pain. You have to really baby the fire as a result of the lack of humidity and the altitude. Smoking with charcoal in Colorado really is a work of love.

Didn't have that much problem smoking when I lived in southern Bama. The fire was easy to maintain.

Not busting your smoker....It looks nice. I just have become spoiled to the electric one. I worry more about rub, brine, marinade,etc...don't have to worry about the heat source as much which has made smoking much easier for this backyard QB.

Yes I remember visiting a friend up there in 76? it took forever to cook a flank stake that I expected to be done in 20 minutes on the hibatchi. Did the outward bound there in the sixties and back then I had not concerns or cares about things like this. George

Not to be a butt (pun intended) mate. Do you mind if I use your pic of your homemade smoker as the guide to weathering a couple of WW2 sub kits I have? I'm serious. See how the weathering changes top to bottom?

And the seam where the top meets the bottom, see the sudden change? It's not a gradual change, it changes sharply where it curves under.

Doogster, you may use it as you will although i'm not sure I understand what you mean. The top tank is an old copper solar water heater tank that I had cut in half some 15yrs past intending to make a bbq. The bottom tank is a 50 gal. drum. I have pictures of the costruction along the way if anyone is interested. George

Sorry, I wuz a bit unclear. I was referring to just the top part of your smoker. It's interesting how there's a pretty abrupt change in the streaking (weathering) of that part as it goes from curving out to curving under.

A hobby of mine is building plastic models (kit assembler some have said, so be it) and I have a couple of large scale Revell WWII subs, including a Gato class that's 52" long when complete. I'm not a fan of pristine and prefer the used and weathered look. That tank on your (formidable) smoker is a great inspiration for weathering an object that's a cylinder in cross section. Thanks mate.