Brinkmann 852-7080-7 Gourmet Charcoal Smoker and Grill, Black

I purchased the Gourmet Charcoal smoker as the 4th Brinkmann charcoal smoker that I have owned over the last 35 years. The others have been the 'R2D2' standard Brinkmann models. I still have the 2nd one that I ever purchased and it still works. For those of us who have taken the time to learn how to use the smoker as intended, it is simple and produces good smoked meats. I smoke pork ribs, salmon, sausages, chicken breasts, whole catfish (skinned, headed and gutted), and other fish. All turn out well. I use whatever wood I gather from the yard - oak (best), maple, fruit wood, and sycamore, to provide smoke. All work - I don;t recommend buying special woods for smoking. I also use extra racks from the old smokers to layer meats in the smoker and gain capacity..This is a much nicer and slightly heavier built model than the last standard model that I purchased 10 years ago. The separate charcoal pan works nicely and seems to provide a more consistent heat. I smoked baby back ribs last night on the grill using 35 yr old Brinkmann rib racks. They were pronounced "the best that I have done" by my wife's retired chef friend.. I would highly recommend this product.The only downside was that the bottom cylinder part of the smoker was bent and dented on arrival though not enough to be worth the trouble to return the smoker. And not enough to effect the functioning of the smoker. Stiffer packaging for shipping is probably needed.

I have owned one of these smokers for several years and the bottom finally rusted out on my old one after years of use and being left out in the rain numerous times. I had been waiting for this model to be on sale and I ordered it immediately when the price was reduced. It arrived two days later with free shipping thanks to my Amazon Prime membership. Assembly takes maybe 20-30 minutes but is very simple. It would be nice if a lot of this came assembled but it's a minor inconvenience. I used the new smoker to smoke a turkey and lots of sausage on Christmas day. All turned out perfectly. I like this model smoker because the bottom is closed. On some of the cheaper models by Brinkman and others, the bottom has a small opening around the water and charcoal pans. Juices from the meat can drip out and stain the concrete on those cheaper models. Can't happen on the Gourmet model.

Do not get a charcoal smoker if you plan on casually smoking meat from time to time. The time investment is too big. Get an electric smoker.

Hi,This is my second Brinkman Gourmet Smoker. I purchased my first one on September 1st of 2008. When it arrived I unpacked it and found that the water pan had a dent. That's okay, but just how did it get dented to begin with. The box it came in was in great shape, factory sealed and the pan was in the center of the contents of the box. The only answer was that it was dented when it was packaged. Okay, I don't think it will stop the smoker from working so I said nothing. I assembled the smoker and enjoyed using it until the water pan sprung a leak, yep, at the dent, but that was after three years of use. And I use my smoker.Now for this purchase: I ordered my new smoker and when it arrived the packaging looked horrible. The factory seal was nonexistant. The flaps on the box were folded together like you would if you were resealing a box that you didn't intend on taping shut. I opened the box and found the main shell of the smoker was egg shaped instead of round. There was only one rack and one of the rack brackets was a reject, not like the others at all. If you know anything about the manufacture of sheet metal products this bracket was either a start or end of a strip as it came through the die being stamped out, it was unusable. Fortunately I still had my 2008 model and scavanged one of the brackets for use on the new smoker.Bottom line here is that if you can get one of these smokers delivered in good shape, with all the parts and those parts are good it is a great smoker for the guy or gal that wants to smoke a few racks of ribs or a couple shoulder roasts, etc.I would steer clear of this one and maybe not buy on Amazon at all. Go to a store where you can lay your hands on the product and see the packaging before it arrives at you door.

This is a great small smoker but beware that you have to take the lid AND the whole body off to use as a simple grill.Thus, it becomes basically a very low grill, Habatchi.I would not buy this again if I had realized this.

So I'm new to the smoking world. I was intimidated by the thought of cooking one meal all day long & wasn't sure if we would use this method frequently enough to purchase the more expensive smokers we found. We chose this one as our "trial" smoker. Cheap enough that if we didn't use it again we wouldn't regret the purchase. However we were worried it would be too cheap & not keep temperature, be too small etc. We've been pleasantly surprised. Came quickly, no problem keeping temperature, thermometer is straight forward with an "ideal" range that has worked for a variety of meats so far, easy set up. Honestly it's been excellent. We recently cooked for a crowd of 30 guests - easily holding racks of chicken & ribs. What we thought would be our starter smoker is now a keeper. If you need a specific thermometer for cooking temperatures then you might want to buy a separate one to install - but if you like simplicity like we do - this will be a perfect fit. We have no need to "upgrade" to a more expensive one, works great and at the price - can't be beat. 30 satisfied guests & counting...