I've had a couple of smokers over the years but they've always been the charcoal type. When I started looking for a new one, I knew I didn't want another charcoal, but didn't know if I wanted electric or gas. After talking with a couple friends with electric ones, I decided on their recommendation to go with gas. After some research/Googling, the Masterbilt Thermotemp is what I decided on. I really like this smoker! The built in temperature probe is pretty accurate according to the oven thermometer I checked it against. I checked it at 3 different temperature settings according to the dial on the smoker and my oven thermometer read about 10 degrees lower at each setting. That's close enough for me. I like that it has double doors so that I can replenish wood chips or add water to the water pan without all of the heat escaping from the smoker. They make an even larger one than this, but since I'm not feeding an Army this one suits my needs quite well and I certainly don't feel undergunned.
Being in the heart of pulled pork BBQ country, the first thing I smoked was a bone in Boston Butt. Smoked for about 9 hours. The meat thermometer read 197 when I took it out of the smoker. I generally like to get them up to 200-205, but I got a little bit of a late start getting things going. Didn't matter, the meat was tender, juicy, falling off the bone, and I had no trouble pulling the pork/shredding the meat with just my hands. No meat claws or knives required.
Link to Youtube vid of the smoker:
And a few pics:




Now, any of you fellas got a good smoker recipe for salmon?