Oklahoma Joe's Highland Reverse Flow Offset Smoker

Bought my OJ off set last year. Smoked chickens, pork shoulders perfectly but my favorite is smoked fish. Everyone likely has their approach but I can keep the smoker at 225-250 very easily for fish. No mechanical or functional problems at all….would highly recommend.

I've been cooking for years, but this is my first smoker. I did lots of shopping around, watched lots of YouTube videos and strongly debated wheather to go old school or go with an automatic type smoker. Obviously I went old school and I'm glad I did! I jumped in with both feet by smoking a brisket on my first go around. The brisket didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but I learned a lot about the Oklahoma Joes. My next adventure was Back Ribs. Wow! They were a little overcooked but the flavor was fantastic. At this very moment I am smoking more ribs, using the 3-2-1 method and keeping the temperature between 200 and 225 degrees F. I used a rub with 1 part kosher salt, 3 parts coarse ground black pepper, a dash of garlic powder and a dash of onion powder. Three hours of smoking, two hours wrapped in foil with 3/4 cup apple juice and back on the smoker, then around one hour on the smoker unwrapped. If you are the kind of person who is as interested in the process as you are with the final product, this smoker is for you. There is definitely a learning curve, but luckily there is a wealth information about smoking online, which makes it well within anyone's reach. The Oklahoma Joe's isn't as heavy as a professional smoker, but it is well built and it's perfect for the home cook who wants to produce authentic smoked foods. I purchased the reverse flow smoker only because there is the option of doing just offset smoking or reverse flow smoking. So far I've only used the reverse flow option and I'm very pleased with the results.

I have been looking at this smoker for the last couple of years. I finally decided to go ahead with the purchase. I put it together with the help of my son. We went ahead and sealed the firebox halves with food grade hi-temp silicone. We also added felt gasket around the doors on both the firebox and cooking chamber. As I was seasoning in the smoker, I was really surprised at how well it maintained the temperature. I did not have any problem with paint peeling like others have complained about. I look forward to years of good food from this pit. I am glad I purchased but only wish I had not waited so long.

Great smoker. Like others who have commented, you must maintain the smoker, I also use peanut oil, and touch up the outside once a season with black grill paint. From the start I was able to set the temp. and walk away for 1/2 hour periods without temp. variations, now I use a ThermoWorks Signals and Control fan which gives me one hour increments of unattended smoking. My grill fits well and highest maintenance is the smoke box due to the heat on the steel, again once a season to keep in top shape. It's an easy learning curve with this smoker, I literally was able to adjust the flue and fire doors within the first hour to know where the sweet spot is, no additional adjustment required. Now if I could only figure out how to get brisket to smoke in half the time. Cheers

Didnt smoke with it yet but the assembly and burn in went very well. Only thing I wish was designed differently is closer spec on smoke stack and design for securing legs and stack other than a clamp bolt design. I did use the door clamps and OK mod seals. Put the seals around both doors and between 2 halves of firebox and not between firebox and cooking chamber. Needed 2 rolls of seal ti finish but have plenty left over. Did not have any smoke leak between firebox and cook chamber without seals. Still have some leaking around doors with the seals but very minimal! My biggest piece of advice is use charcoal to burn in while following instructions. I did not have any bubbling or peeling anywhere. With chimney in traditional port and baffles out I used 1 chimney full of charcoal in the fire box and 2 in the cook chamber on the charcoal grates spaced out time wise to raise temp slowly and careful not to exceed max temp of 450 so I targeted 400 using dampers. Very happy with smoker! Temps did not swing and were rather steady. When using temp probes the temp guage (the gauge glows in the dark!!!) that came with the smoker was very close to probe reading when probe was placed at the same level.

Been wanting a reverse flow smoker for a while, finally order it. Easy assembly, also used 650 RTV to seal all the areas and lavalock smoker gaskets for the lids. I have smoked a brisket and ribs so far and they have turned out great and used half of the charcoal and wood that use to use with my old smoker. Really like the stainless fire box basket, makes it easy for cleanup and to keep from getting ash stall.

Purchased a few months ago. The metal wasn't as thick as I had hoped for. I've added almost two hundred dollars in upgrades. It still doesn't heat to where I'd like but quite a bit better. I added latches for the lid,sealant all around,a gasket for the lid,replacement for the flimsy baffle,second temp gauge and a hole with grommet for the probes. After upgrading I can say it holds temp well and the concept works for putting smoke and heat across whatever you're cooking. Like others stated the paint peels off the smokebox and it didn't require that much heat to do so. It's pretty bad for what you pay it doesn't come with a grease catch/pail. It does come with cooking grates,charcoal grates and the box for the firebox. It's a great smoker with nice features. Not the easiest to convert to charcoal cooking.

This is a great cooker and I love it. It didn't take me long to get the hang of using a slow cooker. I thought initially it might be a big deal getting temperatures right but it really has been very easy, except maybe in wind. The build quality overall is big, bold, heavy and old fashioned which is great and exactly what I want. The only issue is the poor fit of the lid on the cooking area. The gaps of 3mm or more cannot be covered with a gasket to seal it. I think it is just laziness in manufacture. I don't expect a precision fit but I think the fit is poor enough to call OJ out on this. I just have to accept that this does compromise performance, especially in wind. I can live with it. I love the cooker but I think OJ can easily remedy this if they choose to.

I love the reverse flow smoking! I have smoked in mine for five times since I bought it a few months ago. The only negative remark is that the coating on the inside started peeling off after the third smoke session and by the fifth time, the coating starting falling off and on to the meat!! I coated the whole smoker after assembling it with a very liberal amount of peanut oil and then seasoned it for 5 hours. Let it cool and reapplied more oil. I have since power washed all the flakes off, degreased, and re-coated the bare metal with more peanut oil and will most likely have to continue this to keep the rust down.

I had a be of the original Oklahoma Joes Smokers back in the 90's before they sold out. It had a thick gauge of steel. This new one isn't as high quality as the original was. They also share the grate that connects the legs to each other which I had on my Char Broil that rusted quickly. They also bolt the firebox on the main chamber. The original was welded if I recall This new one needs seals as the old one didn't so much. That said the good is the reverse flow does work well. More even temps through out (like 10 degrees difference) also the crate for the firewood is and works exceptionally well. I give two stars because the quality of the build itself is lacking but the smoker does work well.