Masterbuilt Propane Smoker, 44-Inch, Black

I'm a long-time meat-smoker, first with charcoal and then with electric, and now with gas. I've had two digital electric smokers--both Masterbuilt, and I had success with them . . . as long as they worked. They were easy enough to fix when it was just a matter of replacing a circuit board, but eventually they both burned through their ridiculously thin wires (they need much heavier-duty wiring). This time around I thought I'd try the gas option. One thing it has going for it is its simplicity--not a whole lot that can go wrong. Assembly was simple enough (took me about three hours by myself), after which I cured it for an hour or so. The first test for the smoker was a big one: Thanksgiving turkeys, and it passed the test with flying colors. The turkey meat tasted smoky and delicious, and it was super moist, too. As much as I like it I will have to do some mods for this smoker, however. I should have read the description more closely, but I thought it would be like the other Masterbuilt smokers and be constructed with thick, insulating walls. Unfortunately only the door is thick enough to hold in the heat (every other gas smoker I researched was built basically the same way: with one layer of sheet metal all around. Don't know why the electrical ones tend to be insulated and the gas not . . . is it some sort of industry-wide conspiracy?). I've found some easy fixes online for this issue in particular (simple wrap-around with the foil-covered insulation blankets that can be found in any Home Depot--should do the trick). I look forward to many years of great smoked meats with this unit!

Recieved this smoker (44" glass door) and LOVE IT. Some of the reviews talk about modifications like lava rocks, but found the wood chip box more than adequate, only filled it twice during 6 hour smoke job (225 degrees). Did two whole flat iron chickens and a couple slabs of salmon yesterday, turned out perfect. Highly recommend a digital probe for smoker/meat .... got Maverick remote model and it was a pleasure to be able to watch the Packer game and monitor the smoker from the comfort of the couch. I did take the aluminum tray tip and put two of them on a bottom rack (as low as it would go) and filled with beer/water and never needed to add water. One would have been sufficient. I did add strip foam gasket (cheap and easy to put on) as I noticed during initial burn off that the smoke wisped out a little. After the strips installed (LavaLock 1/2" by 1/8") no smoke comes out except through the designated vents. Initial smoke yesterday was unusual 80 degree October day here in WI, so used only one of the two burners for most of the smoke. But as afternoon wore on and the sun was no longer on the smoker, needed to turn on the 2nd burner. Was a bit nervous about doing poultry right away based on the reviews of saying that chicken was a bit harder to smoke .... wasn't an issue ... used the remote food thermometer and waited on the chicken to get to 163, took it off in aluminum tin tray and wrapped .....30 minutes later, moist, tender awesome tasting chicken falling off the bone. Make sure to use a good rub mixture, flavor is incredible when smoked. I am not an experienced smoker, having only done it a couple times in my life prior to purchasing this unit. But as a trout fisherman, I will be using it alot ... the salmon came out perfect, so anticipate some smoked trout and trout dip in the near future. Setup was easy although instructions could be more well written.

I have smoked 8 racks of ribs so far, and it works great. It is tall, so it is easy to get stuff in and out. Cleanup is very easy. Assembly wasn't bad. The only negative is that the left burner won't light using the igniter. The connection is good. The wire may be damaged or something. It lights fine with a lighter, so I have not investigated further.

Unit was well packaged, and didn't take a whole lot to assemble - about an hour. 1st time out, I smoked 2 large pork butts, and about 10 lbs. of baby back ribs. I used my dual lead digital thermometer, one lead to measure the meat temp on one of the butts, and the other for the smoker temp. Set the smoker temp at 250, and cooked until my butt temp was 190 (about 20 hours). i did watch the ribs, and pulled them when they were done. Everything turned out great!! The butts just fell apart - very little work to pull it. I read that the thermometer on the unit is off, and mine is too, but I use the digital anyway, so it doesn't matter. Some people complained that the glass smoked up and was hard to clean. The directions say to coat the door with cooking oil and season it. I coated the glass too, and it didn't smoke up at all. When I was done, I used windex to clean the glass, and will probably spray it with Pam next time.

This was a Thanksgiving Day disaster. I bought this smoker because I wanted to be able to increase my heat more than I could on my electric smoker. I have a Masterbuilt 30 inch electric that works fine for a small cooking. While I was putting the new smoker together, i attached the wire to the igniter but wanted to move it so I tried to remove it and it broke in half. I called Masterbuilt and they sent me a new ignition set out in 2 days. I completed the build and tried to light it for the seasoning process. The igniter wouldn't work. I replaced the igniter with a new one from Masterbuilt and still no spark from the igniter. I had to hand light the smoker. After seasoning smoker I wanted to make a trial run before Thanksgiving so I tried to smoke a bone in turkey breast. There was no smoke coming from the wood box. The wood would blacken but did produce any discernible smoke. I called Masterbuilt and they said it was because my wood was old. I bought new wood and now it is Thanksgiving with turkeys in the smoker. Still no smoke. I tried moving the smoke box around. I tried diff woods but still no smoke. The only way I was able to get any smoke at all near the end of the cook, was to remove the wood box holding tray, take the top off the wood box, place the wood box directly over the flames and turn the smoker up to 300 degrees. This produced only a small amt of smoke. There was no smoke taste to the turkeys. I could have done just as well if I had roasted them in the oven. I returned the unit today for a refund.

Nice smoker, but the workmanship totally sucks. Had to return the first unit I received because the top door bottom door hinge was welded straight, and had about 1/4" gap at the bottom left corner - most of the smoke escaped through the door! I like the smoker, but the quality of the build leaves a lot to be desired. The only reason I asked to replace the original unit with the same unit was because I needed the darn box to return the faulty unit. I would have gone with a different one. Another problem, the bottom door, was so low, that when closing the door, it would scrape the top of part of the burner section, had to put in some washers, and it still scraped! SO FRUSTRTATING!! Had to buy a$6.50 roll of packing tape, I paid $15.00 for UPS to come pick up, plus, I spent another 3 hours to assemble the new unite, and another 2 hours to disassemble the faulty one. Ugh!!! Won't purchase again

This is a great smoker!! I have smoked a bunch of things in this, and it always does a great job. Maintains heat well, has good solid construction, and is impressing everyone that sees it.

This review is of the specific model 2005614 44" propane smoker. The reviews below this date are of various models of Masterbuilts and should not be misconstrued as reviews for the 44" model. I smoke with chunks and not chips so I can not give a review as to how this performs using chips. This was easy to assemble. The clasp for the bottom door was bent and required some Oklahoma ingenuity to repair it enough to function (we can blame this on shipping). The clasps do secure the doors along the right edge of the cabinet but the welds for the hinges on the left are not within spec as there is an easy 1/8 inch gap along the left edge. This allows smoke to seep out around the door. Not a deal killer, as the smoke must be allowed to vent, but not the quality mentioned in other reviews. I left the heat diffuser (thin metal cover that holds the brackets for the chip tray), off of the assembled unit. It is angled with a peak in the middle, similar to the roof on a house. Not as sharp of angle, but not flat enough to set a cast iron skillet to hold wood chunks (a common practice for those wanting to use chunks instead of chips). I purchased a 12" skillet which will cover the gas tubes & heat, and not fall through the rectangular hole in the bottom. A needle valve (the other common modification done by people) is a must, if you do not use the thin metal heat diffuser. I can not speak as to the performance of adding this thin plate but I suspect it does not help keep things any cooler than the thick cast iron skillet, my opinion only. Without the needle valve, I set both burners to the lowest setting. At some point near 285 degrees, the wood chunks burst into flames. I have no idea how much higher the temperature would have climbed at this lowest setting, but I saw enough to make my decision to use a needle valve. 285 seems a smidge high for low & slow so get a needle valve, or use the "heat diffuser" and please give us a review of how will it diffuses. I'm all about fair & honest and to be fair, I did leave it off as well as used a skillet with wood chunks. I can't be too hard on my review as I am not using the smoker the way the manufacturer designed it. I will dock it 1 star for poor seal around the door. This is not my first rodeo, and my last smoker would fall below 110 degrees on low. 285! Should get some awesome burnt ends!