New owner

As a new CS owner myself I seasoned my smoker at 250 for 4 hours with about 4 ounces of hickory. The main reason for seasoning is to burn off any residual oils/chemicals from the manfacturing process. After that you are good to go. My first cook after seasoning was with 3 racks of ribs that turned out great.

Hi Scotccrn,
Welcome to the CS club. I am a newbie as well getting my Smokette a couple of weeks ago. I seasoned mine with 4oz of hickory plus a big wad (probably about three pounds) of beef fat with a bone that my local butcher donated to me. I seasoned it for about eight hours. Did a butt a couple of days after that that was perfect.
Let us know how it goes.

Scotccrn,
After seasoning my SM025 with the 4 oz of wood, I did two 6lb butts. As far as the butts being edible, they were the most tender, flavorful pieces of pork that I have ever had! I can see already that this smoker is going to be addictive.

Congrats to all the new owners.

for seasoning, throw some wood in and let it go.

Then jump into your first cook. You "can" cook the first time, but it's easiest to do a seasoning.

It's not an absolute rule. You can eat what you season with.

Thanks so much for the welcome. I knew that I wanted a cookshack after seeing the customer support and the network of supporters on this forum (no egos). I will be ready to jump in this week. I wonder if ya'll know what kind of wood came with my new cookshack. It included a box of wood but it is not labeled. Just asking b/c I am not a fan of mesquite and dont want to season with it.

From many years ago,it is probably hickory.

Not sure CS even has mesquite,but you can call sales.

They don't monitor this forum.

I can't picture any harm to seasoning with mesquite,though.

The fat and the smoke is just coloring the shiny surfaces.

Just finished the seasoning - 6 hrs @ 225* w/ 5 oz hickory. Temps held great. Opened the door and was surprised that the inside walls look the same as before I seasoned and the wood in the wood box was barely charred. Is the normal. The woodbox will only push in so far and I put wood chunks so they were no blocking the holes in the bottom of the wood box. Is this normal? I planned to put a butt in tonight before going to bed. Should I season it some more without meat before my first smoke?

Scotccrn, your seasoned and ready to go. Keep reading here and keep the smoke flowing, you'll be fine.

Put the 6.6# boston butt in last night at 10pm at 225* after putting on rub and letting sit out of fridge for an hour. Put 4.5 oz of hickory in the wood box. Woke up several times last night (I have a 14mo. old that tends to wake up in the night). Meat temp at 0400 was 170. Temp at 0600- 178*. Temp now at 1000am (12hrs in the shack) is 190 --getting closer. I cannot believe how well my essential model 20 is keeping the oven temp at 225. There is almost no fluctuations in temp as described with the 08/09 models with the temp dial. The new digital controls are great. It is nice that the display gives you a constant oven temp reading. I checked it against my own oven thermometer during the seasoning process and it was dead on. I will post the results when my butt (meat-eor) is finished.

Go ahead on the next smoke and put the wood over the holes or the edge of the wood over the holes in the bottom of the wood box. The wood will actually get hotter will start to ash away from the hole areas. I would guess that charred wood at the 6 hr mark is normal. Looks like the 2 to 2.5 hrs per LB is the same for the new essential series as the 009 / 008s. pull it out at 195 double wrap it in foil for about 2-4 hrs in a cooler or wrapped in towels and for dinner MMMM!! pulled pork.

Finally took it off at 1pm. Thats 15hours for a 6.6# butt. Glad I read the posts here and decided to put it on last night or I would not be eating it for dinner. Its in the cooler wrapped in foil and a towel. I am about to go pull it. I took some photos to post but they are too big for the attachment. I need to find out how to resize them for the forum. Walls of the shack are nice and tinted now with the smoke seasoning. Did I read right that I should store it with the door slightly open so mold will not grow inside?

Just took it out of cooler (5hr cooler Time). I was trying to wait until wife got home from work but temp was down to 140*. I like the idea of using temp probe to monitor in the cooler. Butt was great and pulled easily. It was much better than my previous butts cooked in my orion cooker. Can't wait till my next smoke....hmmm what to smoke?

Glad it work out Scotccrn. I am glad you asked the question about storing with door open/closed as I have been wondering the same thing. I keep the smoker outside (in my smoker shed that built) and will probably be using it a couple of times a month. Since it has holes on the bottom and top, I figured I would go ahead and keep the door closed......but want to hear what others do.
Thanks

Just a thought on mold/mildew.

I never worried about it when I just had my 008,but when I had multiple cookers,in the rainy season,on the shade side of the house,I had some problems.

I set a 1/2 disposable pan of charcoal type cat litter on a shelf ,when I close it up ,for maybe weeks.

Been working well for a couple of years.