The Texas BBQ Forum

This may be a stupid question, but here we go. What differentiates a competition smoker from any other smoker trailer? Amenities, style? Or what do want in a comp rig compared to a catering rig, etc? There, I asked.

Great question. I'm in the market for a pit lately so I've been thinking about it quite a bit. My thoughts on it are: if I'm not cooking for a crowd, I want a much smaller pit, tuned well with good even temps. The larger the pit, the more hot spots and deltas in temp. Most comp pits are pretty small, just big enough to cook an entry or two in each category. They're categorically the same, it's just smaller pits seem to be more efficient and require less fuel, and hold temps more stable and with less effort. That's my assessment, anyway.

Agreed
If you look around at most comp cookers they, they are small and very consistent on their temps. When I first started going to comps every one seemed to have a big trailer pit. Now the trend seems to be a smaller insulated pit. Comps cost so much to do, it makes sense. You use less wood, you only cook what you absolutely need.
I cook for work 1 or 2 times a year and that is pretty much the only reason I've kept my big pit. I've thought many many times about selling it and downsizing for comps.

But to answer your question, a "competition pit" is what ever you take to the comp to cook on. There's guys on big trailer pits, custom insulated pits, weber smokey mountains, kettles, green eggs, new braunfels smokers, uds etc...

My comp cooker is made from a 250 gallon propane tank it is set up to cook whole hogs as well. She runs tuning plates and the temps are very even. I burn about 15 to 20 logs during a two day comp she is pretty efficient. The trailer is pretty much self contained with hot & cold running water we use it to cook for party's, weddings and whatever someone needs. I started out planning on a much smaller cooker for comps but now that I have what I have I would never downsize.

So what would be the ultimate computation rig?

Well you're going to have varying opinions on this question... For the "ultimate comp rig" some are gunna want anything from fans to tv's ... if you ask me the primary thing on a comp rig is efficiency and low maintenance during the cook. Too much other stuff going on at a comp to worry about jacking with a pit every 20 min's. JMO...

bbqbuilder wrote:So what would be the ultimate computation rig?

Which ever cooker you are comfortable with and fits your needs is in my opinion the ultimate cooker comp cooker.

bbqbuilder wrote:So what would be the ultimate computation rig?

The one that wins! -JD

bbqbuilder wrote:So what would be the ultimate computation rig?

A Jambo, obviously. Or a Klose. Or a Lang. Or a WSM. Or a UDS. Or...

I think that really comes down to the individual team's cooking style and budget. "Will it hold the meat you need to cook" and "is the cook reproducible" seem to be the common denominators, beyond that there's no clear winner.

bbqbuilder wrote:So what would be the ultimate computation rig?

We do a lot of additional categories when we go to cookoffs like chefs choice, Cajun, pinto beans, wild game, desert and we built our trailer around that. Took years of saving winnings, tax returns and working extra but she's paid for. We didn't do a propane burner since we cook beans In a pressure cooker inside the Motorhome.




Also a great catering rig. We cooked like 90 slabs of ribs after the briskets and pork butts were done. Cooker for 600



IMHO as stated earlier is whatever wins for you is the best comp cooker. Where the difference really comes into play is weather conditions and volume that separate a serious comp cooker vs a backyard BBQ pit. Jambo is a great competition offset, so is R&O but they are maxed at like 6 -9 briskets, my magnum sniper is maxed at 23 briskets and is shorter overall in length. . Meat has to be rotated a little but that's expected on a 58" cook chamber and 3 shelves.

Quite a Rig & Set Up J. Money or do you prefer Dr. Smoke??

Very nice JMoney, the best part is that it's paid for!

I need a job to pay for a rig like that!!


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Pretty nice set up JM