Kingsford Charcoal Water Smoker

I was about to build an inexpensive cold smoker prior to purchasing the Kingsford Charcoal Water Smoker and soon rationalized that it would actually cost me more to build what I had in mind than to just use the Kingsford as a cold smoker with a Southern BBQ Works Smoke Tube placed in the bottom as a smoke generator. Bingo! The Kingsford works like a charm with the smoke tube. The temperature has easily stayed low enough for me to cold smoke cheese, etc. I simply place ice in the water bowl and let the magic begin. I have used the smoker 7 times since I purchased it a few weeks ago and believe it will hold up to years of cold smoking activity. I wash the grates and bowls between uses and it's ready for the next batch of whatever. I don't plan on using this a charcoal smoker or grill as I believe it would be awkward to try and maintain your heat and water sources via the little side door. Otherwise you'd have to remove everything from the top to access the heat and water sources below. In any case, I have other toys for grilling and smoking.Basically, for the price this unit has performed very well with the smoke tube and the build quality is exactly what one would expect for a smoker in the $35 range. I'm satisfied with my Kingsford charcoal smoker turned cold smoker.

Very pleased! Just wanted a good grill and THIS IS GOOD, BETTER AND BEST FOR THE $$$!!.

Box arrived taped up, as if it was already a returned item. Went to put it together for Father's day for my husband, and it was severely damaged. The lid also had oil or grease all dripping on the inside of it. Clearly this was returned once and not inspected, and then sent out to me. Probably could have been a great little smoker if it was in tact. Returned!

Product came bent and handles broken.

works very well and use it a lot

It is a great low cost smoker. When I don't want to fire up my big smoker I use this one. It does a great job. You have to watch it a little more than my Barrel smoker, but it does a fantastic job. I find the door plenty adequate to add water or more charcoal. It's not like you're going to dump 10 pounds into it. Just a few at a time to maintain temp. I liked it so much I bought it for a couple of friends of mine as well.

It's a bit small, but it gets the job done!

FULL DISCLAIMER: I purchased this smoker at Wal-Mart for $35.It is terrible even at that low price. The bottom of the smoker is fully open and the charcoal goes into a bowl that rests inside the barrel on brackets mounted to the inside wall. The bowl has a small grate inside it. This means that the coals burn down to ash that collects inside the bottom of the bowl where it clogs airflow to the coals. A good smoker would have a fully-enclosed bottom with adjustable vents and the coals would rest on a grate inside where ash can fall to the bottom and leave airflow unimpeded. For medium or long smoking this smoker will allow ash to build up and means the coals won't burn thoroughly.Likewise, the top vent on the lid is the only manner that you can control airflow through the smoker unless you want to open the access door to allow more airflow.When using it as a grill you move the charcoal bowl up to sit on top of the lower cooking rack, right below the upper cooking rack. This means the same airflow problems for the coals when you are trying to use a very hot, direct heating method. I fire up a batch of charcoal and once it's going with some meats on the grill I can't get temperatures hot enough to do serious cooking of anything. Chicken wings took forever to grill, far longer than on a standard Weber grill.All I can say is that I'm glad it was only $35. After tax I was under $40 for this purchase and it doesn't work well as either a grill or a smoker. I have a standard Weber grill that is old, and I was going to throw it out after buying this. I'm glad I kept it as a backup because if I need to grill something I want to use something that can have the food done in good time.