Oklahoma Joe's® Highland Classic Offset Charcoal Smoker & Grill

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Make sure you do your research before you get this grill. By itself, it's not bad at all. But if you get the gasket kit and the exhaust kit, it works much much better! Overall, it's a great little grill!

Bought my Highland 7 years ago when we first bought our house and I can say it's been keeping up very well over many summers of regular use. Great versatility when I want to grill or barbecue. Simple setup means if you want to do simple modifications or improvements to fit your needs, it can be done. Only a few critiques and this is on an older model so some things may have changed and improved, so take with a grain of salt. Out of the box, there will be some air leaks. But this is solved easily with some grill sealing tape. Additionally exterior paint peeling is likely if you have very high temps both on the main chamber and firebox. Don't overload with coal/wood and that should be fine. Clean regularly but a thin layer of ash will insulate the bottom. And absolutely make sure you buy a cover or put it away to protect from rain and snow. Other than that, it's treated me VERY well and I will likely get a second newer one when the time finally comes to.

I am enjoying using the Oklahoma Joe's Highland smoker and the great BBQ it produced this weekend -- baby back ribs and chuck roast. I upgraded from an electric vertical pellet smoker to the Highland. The flavor of the food coming off the Highland is noticeably better than my old pellet smoker. I realize that offset smokers produce a better smoke flavor but its not something you really understand or expect until you experience it. I thought the flavor of BBQ coming off my pellet smoker was great compared to using a chip box on my propane grill to smoke ribs or pork chops. Twice I smoked brisket on my pellet smoker but the smoke flavor of a chuck roast done on the Highland this weekend was far better than that of the brisket. Obviously, the brisket was juicier and more tender, but the smoky flavor from the beats the smoky flavor of a brisket done on a pellet smoker. My family agreed. I also realized before making the switch to an offset that fire management was a much more intensive process than the set it and forget it of a pellet smoker (save some spritzing). I have used charcoal briquettes in combination with hickory or oak wood in my Highland. I used hickory chunks first with the ribs. The fire management seemed much harder with wood chunks than with oak splits used for the chuck roast. Maybe I used too many wood chunks at a time which caused the temps to run higher than I wanted. I did notice that it seemed like I was putting in more chunks about every 20 minutes. The oak splits seemed to produce a more sustained temp and obviously didn't burn up as fast as chunks, but I do think when I use up the rest of my briquettes I'm going to switch to lump charcoal and see what the overall results look like over the duration of a cook.

I would call this a mid level offset smoker, for entry level price. Bang for buck it’s a great smoker. I’ve done 4 cooks on it so far. Super happy with temperature control. After first cook I feel totally comfortable walking away for an hour at a time once I got a good bed of coals.(I use just wood, no charcoal). Never used a premium offset smoker before but for the average “Joe” this one is perfect

Very well built. I would suggest they put a seal on the lid and smoke stack connection. Some of the screws were a pain position wise but over all good.

Would have given it 5 stars if the paint didn't bubble and chip off while seasoning the grill. My temperature was around 275-300 and it still bubbled so it was not due to having too high of heat like others. That being said I am very happy with the way it cooks and performance. If you don’t mind it looking a but worn right off the jump then I would recommend it.

Recently purchased. Cheaped out on the welds. Phillips screw pockets to shallow causing stripping. Make them bolts instead. No mounts for main grill area charcoal grates. Moving handle flops around. Lid curve doesn’t match body smoke pours out. Fire box match up (top and bottom) not even allows smoke air in minimizing floor control. Needs fire seals I added my own to fix).

I like this unit! It's smaller and lighter than my previous model but still has room for a LOT of food. Only problem I had was getting some accessories for it. I wanted the warming shelf that it shows in some pics but couldn't find it. Finally looked at the same size GRILL and was able to find it listed. Help line was no help.

Overall not bad. I just have a few pet peeves. 1) The overall height of the grill way to low. 2) There needs to be a way to raise the charcoal bed for searing. 3) Ash removal is cumbersome. 4) You need a grill grate removal tool.

The grill arrived on time, however the box looked like it had been hit with a forklift and was pretty beaten up. I am less than impressed with the shoddy welding on the firebox. The delivery company sent me a bill for shipping, despite Walmart listing the item as “Free Shipping.” Walmart customer service handled that issue for me. The poor manufacturing and shipping issues are not Walmart's problem, and they did handle the shipping bill issue quickly. I can recommend buying from Walmart, but would hesitate buying another Oklahoma Joe's product.