Char-Broil Vertical Electric Smoker Review

This can be an advantage though, with less to focus on and a huge internal area for an electric smoker at this value, it’s a good, if uninspiring smoking grill.

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Review

Char-Broil focus almost exclusively on cooking products, especially heavy duty pieces like this one and the ‘Big Easy’ model, reviewed later, so it’s fair to say they know what they’re doing.

As you’d expect, this vertical, free standing electric smoker is solidly built, with a no-frills design and a focus on the essentials, giving you as much as possible for the cost.

Inside, it’s huge, with three separate grilling racks that give you over 500 square inches of combined cooking space. It’s got a powerful 1500W heating element, as well, great for a grill this size, and you need that power to keep the huge internal space hot.

Its got a dial thermostat instead of digital, which isn’t a bad thing as it’s easy to set and more reliable for cheaper smokers like this one, and has much less that can go wrong. It doesn’t matter either way, as there’s a temperature dial built into the front so you can see at a glance where your meat is at in the cooking process.

So why have I rated this lower than the Old Smokey? Simple. The increased internal area seems like a good deal, but bear in mind the cooking element on this is only 20% stronger than the Old Smokey, and this has twice the cooking space. So I found you get a much better result with the ‘Smokey.

It’s also got a terrible door design. It’s only held closed with magnets. Other buyers have reported it swinging open in the middle of cooking. It’s a relatively simple fix, but obviously modifying a new purchase is not something we want to be doing.

Honestly though, if you can get past the door thing this is an excellent little smoking grill. It’s solidly constructed and does exactly what you want it to do. If you do end up picking this up, whether it’s because you need more cooking space or you just trust the brand, you won’t regret it.

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The Char-Broil Vertical Electric Smoker can be found on Amazon