How to choose a smoker

Three things matter: chamber material, heating method and size. Wood provides excellent insulation and gives the smoked meat a traditional flavour. Steel heats up faster and insulated models can handle smoking even in freezing temperatures. With smokers featuring a separate firebox, the fire burns outside the chamber and smoke is guided in via a flue, meaning the meat is not directly over the flame and the temperature is controlled by the air intake. Choose the size based on how much meat you smoke at once. Small and medium chambers hold 10 to 12 kg, while large models hold 15 to 30 kg. The Myslivecká 4XL can hold 30 to 40 kg, and the largest premium Hrist 120 holds exactly 45 kg.

Which version to choose

• Wooden smokers usually have a chamber made of Scandinavian spruce using 20 mm tongue-and-groove boards. Most chambers are treated with linseed oil. You can choose between a charred or uncharred finish and a wooden or sheet-metal roof. The Mist and Hrist ranges in Premium smokers feature a metal roof and an XXL firebox.
• Metal and steel smokers Donar, Frigg, Tauron and Strigg are made of 1.5 mm sheet metal with paint resistant up to 600 °C. Tauron and Strigg feature 14 mm wood insulation, ensuring they maintain temperature even in winter. This also includes El Fuego offset smokers, which combine a grill with a smoking chamber.
• Electric smokers Manve and Tulkas combine a wooden chamber with a 2 kW heating element and temperature control. You can smoke without adding wood or monitoring the fire. The Manve also includes a smoke generator in the set.
• Gas smokers El Fuego Portland feature piezo ignition and a built-in thermometer. They are suitable for those who want to smoke without wood in the firebox.
• The Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker grill and smoker, available in diameters of 47 or 57 cm, uses charcoal.

What you need for your smoker

Wooden and steel smokers with a separate firebox come with a firebox, flue, deflector, hooks, and a thermometer. The Nordic has the firebox located beneath the chamber, so a flue is not required. For cold smoking cheeses or fish, add a smoke generator, which produces cold smoke even in a chamber you already own. The quality of the smoke is determined by the type of wood chips used. Beech and oak are suitable for all types of meat, alder for fish, cheese and poultry, and plum and apple for both meat and fish. Replacement fireboxes, chambers, roofs and smoke pipes can be found in smoker parts.