TX AG 88 said:
The best pellet smoker still burns pellets, which is a limitation. Pellets don't give great smoke or smoke ring. At least that's the knock on them. That's why I went the way I did.
I am not knocking the gravity fed charcoal grills. I've never used one, but they appear to be pretty great. I just recommended one for my father-in-law, as he is a died in the wool charcoal guy. I would absolutely check them out and compare if you are in the market. It might be a great choice.
However, I must take umbrage with the assertion that pellets don't produce good smoke. Not trying to be confrontational, just giving my opinion/experience to a very common critique of pellets that I have found to be unwarranted.
I find that reputation "pellets don't produce food smoke" usually comes from people who fall into one of 2 categories-
1) They don't have significant personal experience with a pellet grill. It's always "My buddy/dad/neighbor has one", and maybe they have used it a couple times at most.
Or 2) They have only used an entry level pellet grill, and/or one with a PID controller.
Some cheaper units don't smoke as well as they grill- but that isn't the fault of the pellets. Also- people have been obsessed with keeping temperatures exact- which is why PID controllers have been introduced to pellet grills. However, we are finding that minor temperature swings produce significantly better smoke with pellets. A periodic swing of 10-15 degrees will not harm your brisket or ribs in the least, if you can get over the idea that your grill might occasionally read 235 or 265 when you have it set on 250. It does produce MUCH better smoke that way. Old school pellet grills operated this way, then went went to PID's that helped +\1 5 degrees and we lost the smoke producing temp swings. Now companies like Grilla are building that back into their r digital controllers.
Also, a pellet grill will not equate to a stick burner solely on the metric of smoking- but the inverse is true on a number of other categories too. A pellet grill isn't the right choice if you want the best dedicated smoker, but that doesn't mean it can't smoke.
I will say, pellets absolutely can and will produce smoke rings and prominent smoke flavors. I do it all the time.
