FAQS

Who does not love getting together with friends and family to enjoy a delicious dinner complete with great conversation and good times? That is exactly what you get when you choose Cookshack. We are a family that has been in the making for more than 50 years. Our goal is to help you make enjoyable smoked foods with as little effort as possible.

The amount of wood will vary based on your personal taste, however, we recomment only putting 2 oz. of wood when cooking up to 60 lbs. of meat. Adding too much wood, or adding more wood halfway through the cooking cycle, can cause your food to taste bitter. Each electric smoker comes with a box of wood. One of those chunks is all you should need for an all day smoke.

Like most questions about barbecue, the answer depends on whom you ask. In general, hickory is a nationwide favorite. Mesquite has some regional popularity, as does alder, oak, and pecan. If you stick to fruit or nut hardwoods, you will always get good flavor.

Use only 100% food grade wood pellets in order to keep your warranty in tact. We offer mesquite, hickory, oak and fruitwood pellets in 20 lb. bags. You can use you favorite brand in many other flavors (We also recommend BBQ'rs Delight pellets). Do not use pellets designed for furnaces. Keep pellets dry so they do not swell and clog the auger.

Gas and charcoal are great for grilling, where there is plenty of air circulation. They are not ideal for cooking in an enclosed environment such as a smoker. Stick to honest-to-goodness real wood chunks or pellets for best results and flavor. Plus, as all true pitmasters know, wood smoke always tastes better than charcoal or propane!

We are a company dedicated to spreading the love of genuine pit barbecue and wood smoked foods. A leader in the market for more than 50 years, Cookshack's state-of-the-art ovens are distributed worldwide to people on all walks of life, from backyard cooks to restaurants, caterers, supermarkets, convenience stores and meat markets.

You bet! We have four electric models: The Smokette (SM009-2), Smokette Elite (SM025), SuperSmoker Elite (SM045) and the AmeriQue (SM066). We also have three models that use wood pellets: The PG500, the PG1000 and the FEC100.

We recommend using your smoker in your garage or outside on a driveway or patio. Even though the smoke is aromatic and delightful outside, it's not so great permeating your drapes. They are great for installing in an outdoor kitchen.

Cookshack smokers are solidly crafted in Ponca City, Okla.! Cookshack chooses not to go to a foreign manufacturer for any of our products so we can control materials and quality. We want to give you a well-made smoker all while supporting the US economy.

If you can load your dishwasher, you can clean this smoker. Grills and racks go straight in the dishwasher, and you can wipe down the interior of the smoker with paper towels as needed.

From SmokingDuffey, our unofficial forum physicist: A phase change causes the plateauing; the collagen and fat in the meat are changing phase from a solid to a liquid. One must supply energy to accomplish this phase change. While the fat and collagen are absorbing the energy (heat) from the smoker to melt, none is available for raising the temperature of the meat. It is similar to ice melting. When ice and water are in a glass, the water will remain at 32°F (0°C) until all the ice is melted, then the temperature will increase. The heat goes into melting the ice, not raising the temperature of the water. Nothing mysterious, just thermodynamics.

No! Our smokers do not get hot on the outside, so children and pets are safe. The heat stays on the inside thanks to the 850° Spin-Glas® insulation sandwiched between the smoker's inner and outer walls in top and sides.

Forget about soaking wood before smoking. With Cookshack smokers, wood chunks go in dry. Due to the wood chunks size and the low temperature that the smoker is kept at, wood will smolder providing a smoky atmosphere, but will never ignite.

Yes! You can smoke low and slow on the indirect side of your pellet grill all night long; however, your fire could blow out from the wind.

Yes! Please view our troubleshooting guides for commercial and residential pellet fired and electric smokers here.