New Smoker, old Cookshaker!

Congrats on new smoker, which one did you get and which one you retired?

welcome "back"! Some of us never left and have been here for all those years

Welcome back from the "left coast".Always good to know some of us are still kickin'.

Smokin & Tom-
I never left this forum. Just did not comment much because you guys do such a good job.

Smokin- didn't you go away for a while?

Tom- can't kick like I used to, but I can still cook up a mess of good stuff in my little Smokette.

G Que- I retired an old Smokette, black and working great when she moved to my neighbor's yard.

Allow me some first impressions on the new CS vs. the old, since I just put a rack of St. Lois ribs in the new one:

1. I use the heavy duty Reynold's wrap foil. The new CS shape seems to be a more difficult size to cover the bottom with this foil? And, the space under the element makes it a bit more difficulf for an old fa*t like me put the foil down.
2. The wood box is easier to use,but I do not plan to clean it with water after each use (as per manual?). I just let the wood burn out on it's own.
3. I notice the manual says not to use the cooker in the rain. I never let that stop me with the old smoker! Maybe I will cover the brain box on top with something if the thing is not waterproof. Or are there other reasons for this warning in the guide?

Tom- I appreciate you sending the rain to us for dinner time now. Seems like this pattern just started when I decided to get the new CS?

I couldn't believe it when just about 4 hours into cooking my first ribs in the new CS, the power went off in my house (and, on the entire little island I live on). We found out it would take about 2+ hours to get electricity back, so, I left the ribs in the smoker.

My wife enticed me to take her to a very good little Japanese restaurant not far from us that still had power. A couple of Kirin Ichibans and a huge bowl of ramen noodle soup with Japanese BBQed pork loin in it(I have to find outhow the chef does this!)we went back home just a few minutes after the electrons came back.

The ribs which I had wrapped in foil after the third hour in the smoker were still quite hot when I opened the CS. I found that the 025 is designed to stay off after a power outage (should this be an on/off feature selectable by the "chef"???).

In a few minutes I am going to finish the ribs on my gas grill. Might even be better this way?

Hmmm... They must have changed things. My 020 automatically turns on if there was a power failure. A couple of times during the winter, I looked out the patio door and saw all the snow melted around the smoker. Looked at the display and sure enough, it was on. No idea how long it was on, but fortunately it's only a few cents a day to run it.

Andy- thanks for your comment about the behavior of your 020 smokers with power failures.

I am sure that my SM025 did NOT come on automatically after the power outage. A quick search of this forum about Cooshack behavior after power failure seems to give mixed results, and not all models are mentioned.

I wonder if a technical guru could clarify this Behavior for us- maybe a list of various models and their behavior if left plugged into an outlet with power on before an outage (and did I see a thread about some units powering on after being turned off but not unplugged from an outlet when power returned after an outage??).

Funny. I remember you guy. Good to see you all still here.