Yes it is brilliant.

I made some crock pot beef barbacoa awhile back and have some leftover I threw in the freezer. That sounds good in some chillies popper style.

Chopped grilled shrimp is another good popper addition. Natural sweetness of the shrimp with the heat of the jalapeno and savory of the bacon makes a damn good bite of food

Pro-tip, and I didn't do this yesterday because I was lazy, but the finer you chop your meat the easier it is to mix into the cream cheese and the more even the distribution

After using a WSM for years, I finally gave in to the dark side and bought a Recteq. I bought it to gain capacity over the 18” WSM without having to babysit a stick burner (been there, done that), and I’ll admit that I’ve been enjoying it way more than I should! Last weekend, I did an 18 lb prime brisket (something I couldn’t fit on the WSM), and I have some beef jerky going now.

I’ve been pleased with everything that I’ve done so far (e.g., pork butts, ribs, over the top chili, meatloaf) to the point that the old WSM has been watching from the sidelines.

Welcome to the club. I still occasionally use the WSM. The ease of long overnight smoke with my 700 bull is worth its weight in gold.

I didn't take any pictures however I took a corned beef and smoked it into pastrami. It came out pretty good; next time I will trim the fat cap so the rub doesn't slough off and it gets a better crust. Did it on the Weber, only complaint is the temperature is really hard to control.

Absolute truth there! For the most part, I could get the WSM to hold overnight without any issues, but I had a couple where it burned out, and I was fortunate to get up early enough to get it rolling again before any damage was done. Not having that stress helps me (literally) sleep better at night. Just make sure the hopper is full, and let it ride!

Agree, my smoker collection is is down to my Louisiana Grill Black Label pellet grill and a Cuisinart electric vertical smoker. Oh, and a Blackstone, but that's not a smoker... LMAO So like you, my days to tending to fire are over. Zero regrets.

That said, I have come to using a smoke tube that I place under the deflector shield where I can use wood chips to actually add a little bit more of a natural looking smoke ring to meats on longer burns.

But yeah, I'm not competing my BBQ so I don't have rules, I can just make damn near perfect meat every time with the pellets, and with us being empty nesters and cooking smaller cuts, that's more importent than ever..

I don't typically smoke my poppers because it overcooks the jalapenos -- makes 'em too soft.

I wonder if freezing them first would help? Can expose them to smoke longer without them cooking as much, though the freezing process in general likely impacts their 'snap'.

I just tend to do my under a broiler or over charcoal because I still want some feedback in the jalapeno. In the amount of time it takes to cook bacon at 225 degrees, the jalapenos get limp.

I have the best of both worlds! A Char-griller Akorn Automatic Kamodi smoker/grill. Once started it will send me an alert if it drops under temp, then it automatically stokes the coals with a fan until temp is re-achieved. Holds temp for HOURS!

I've been tinkering with smoking fish for years. I finally nailed the recipe. Here is some smoked steelhead.
Recipe: This is a wet brine recipe
1/2 gallon water with 1.5 cups brown sugar and .5 cups kosher salt
Place fish (salmon, steelhead etc) in brine for 20 hours
Remove fish and rinse quickly. Don't soak.
Let dry on a drying rack for 12 hours in the fridge to form a pellicle
Smoke with apple or cherry wood at 160 degrees for 2-3 hours
Brush on a 50/50 mixture of apple juice and brown sugar (or maple syrup) one time the last half hour.

First off, I like it... Next, some questions...

1. How do you add coals during a cook (if need be), and you you prelight them (if you do)?

2. What type of coals do you use?

3. For smoke, what do you do/how do you put wood in it for smoke?

4. What's its temp range?

5. What's your longest no-refueling cook? I know temp matters, but let's say 275-300 degrees?

Looks GREAT!!! What type of smoker and wood?

I use a Grilla OG grill and that was with apple wood. I have a WSM also, but I like the result on the Grilla better.

Coolio. My pellet grill's lowest temp is 180° so that won't work, but my Cuisinart won't have a problem with that, and the smoke tube would/should work well for the smoke.

Just cold smoked a few bricks of cheddar and gouda cheese.

Yoder fan only mode

Apple pellets in pellet tube

2 hours

now vacuumed sealed and placed in frig