Side by Side Comparison of: Smokehouse Product vs Smoke Hollow

This little smoker doesn't look like much, but it works great! We bought an electric smoker before this and the quality of the food from this one is amazing. We really like it so far!!

My husband loves this smoker. It has everything he wanted. It is sturdy and well made. Works really well at smoking too.

Great little smoker for the price. This is my second one I've had. The first one lasted over 10 years of smoking ALOT of Deer jerky and fish. I've tried several other smokers and the Little Chief works the best for me.

I owned a top loader for 25 years and that's the reason I bought this front loader. I have enjoyed my smoker forever and can't count the amount of game and fish I smoked and jerked. Little Chief is the best.

Great - basic, no-frills smoker for the price. I bought this to smoke Steelhead (trout) and it does a great job. I've never smoked meat or fish before, so I bought this smoker as a starter model. The capacity is decent for the size and it is easy to maintain. I've used it during 3 fishing seasons (1 1/2 years) with no problems. I'd highly recommend it if you are a beginner/novice to smoking meat and fish. Happy smoking!

Grew up with my Grandpa smoking in one of these. Happy to say it produced the same fine result. Highly recommend hickory smoking burgers before grilling, it'll knock your socks off....what a great investment, started off nostalgic but these things have a variety of applications. Its just a very calibrated fool proof design, and it works.

Works exactly as stated. So affordable price to buy such a practical product, very value, I'm going to buy a friend gave me as a birthday present. Happy with this product and the service given. I expect commodity in time to the logistics very quickly, I hope I will always use it, this is a worthy purchase products here, this is a pleasant shopping.

Very nice bit of kit. Performance of the product is very good, very fast, I have been using it and would recommend it to more friends around.

This smoker met all the needs I was looking for. I did a fair amount of research on the various smokers and for the money it seemed to hit all of the things I was looking for. It was wide enough to put in a full brisket without having to cut it, it had two doors so you can work on the chips without letting out the heat, it had two burners to help control temperature and timely burn two different chip trays without having to reload the cabinet. It was easy to assemble, it does a pretty good job of not releasing smoke in various door cracks etc, and is large enough to cook for a large party and work in multiple meats. Very pleased with this purchase so far. I have owned it for about a month now and have two smokes under my belt, fathers day and an anniversary party all went off well with many rave reviews.

I could find just 1 video review on the Smoke Hallow Smoker thanks for that (derrickman83), the written reviews here did gave me a good impression. The Hallow Smoker was very easy to assemble, some minor dents on the corners from transport witch could be solved with a small beat of a rubber hammer.

As mentioned on this smoker by some reviewers there was a issue on the gas regulator to crank it down to low temperatures. i have no complains on that part (i think i have a newer version, outgoing pressure 1 PSI ) its awesome to do Ribs on this smoker. Use one burner set to 235 F (3/4 knob setting) and after a few hours as your chips are done you can switch over to the second burner. No seal on the front door, but all the smoke stays inside the smoker and makes its way nicely to the small stack tube, i have made a aluminium duct to guide the gases away about 8 feet long. (and still no smoke coming from the door.

Overall great buy and user experience

Happy smoking...

This smoker does everthing it says it will. Went from a charcoal smoker to a gas smoker and I will never go back to charcoal.

Mmmmm. Best purchase made for/by me in years. Turkeys, pork, and especially ribs are wonderful. I would recommned this if you can fill it. If not, go smaller.

Nothing fancy about these little chief, but it does smoke salmon just the way I want. Good stuff!

Awesome love this little smoker

Good little smoker, ordered it for my father. He had on when we lived in Alaska. The only complaint was when it arrived it was bent and banged up. I offered to return it but my father said he would try to fix it. Great for smoking fish!

Had a little chief in the past. Purchased my second because it is an excellent product that suits my needs. Great for making jerky and smoked fish.

The smoker is wonderful it smokes the meat just right. The front door sometimes is hard to put on compared to the top loader. I would buy this smoker again.

Almost exceeded my expectations except while it was in use I noticed it had a dent on the lower left front corner. The smoker needs to be packed better than just a cardboard box,.Suggest Styrofoam on the corners.Smoked my first pork belly. Best bacon I have ever had!!!!

Takes about 1 1/2 to assemble. Its kind of heavy (not saying that is good or bad) so plan on having someone help move it. On the negative side, it does not come with an insulation strip for the door. Consequently, a LOT of heat and smoke is lost through the door. So much so that is changes the cooking times. For the price, that should be something that is included. A few other quirks: some of the parts were bent/damaged from shipping (the bracket for the water pan), the grease cup is supposed to hang under the bottom somewhere, but it is not clear where or how.

This is a big smoker with a lot of space inside.

Works well once it is put together. I must warn future buyers of one thing; you have to be careful when installing the temperature gauge. Mine broke as I snugged it in place. Manufacturer sent a replacement with no questions asked. The only other problem I have had is one of the igniters stopped working after the second use. Not a big deal to manually light the burner but it is a little annoying. Assembly was not too difficult, although some of the illustrations could have been better. I did have a small hole in the back of upper cabinet. I filled this in with some Black smoker leak sealer. I also sealed the upper and lower cabinet doors with gasket material as recommended in other reviews.

I have made one cook. I discovered that the flame was blowing off the element. Several reviews indicated a needle valve was the solution, so I purchased one. Well the hose and valve assembly I received with the unit were swaged or pressure fitted. So I replaced the hose and low pressure valve and added the needle valve. What I discovered was the new valve, maybe a better product, controlled the pressure, returned the flame to the burner and the needle valve was unnecessary. I also find that the flame control to be somewhat inadequate. There more or less is a high, middle and low, with not an unlimited amount of adjustment. It is a smoker, but I am uncertain that the higher temperatures can be reached.

Aside from that, the wind seem to create turbulence under the unit and with the flame blowing off the element, gaining heat was a problem. I can't say at the moment, but I may place some sheet metal on the legs to move the wind turbulence to well below the heat source. (yeah, it needs air). Clearly the unit needs ventilation, but putting 8 to 10 inches of sheet metal between the legs and below the element may let the heat build better.

The unit burns hotter without water, and I like a hotter cook for chicken and fish with mild smoke, so barbeque instead of smoking. To get to 275 was a bit of a struggle. It may be that getting the flame under control will increase the heat, but I feel certain that the wind was evacuating the cook box (oh yeah, Florida, and 80 degrees, nice day, except 20 mph wind).

I also purchased a universal equipment base with rollers. In our climate this unit would rust out in less than two years, based upon the typical gas grill, but by putting the mobile tool base underneath it rolls in and out of the garage nicely. Lock the wheels and start the cook. Once it is done and cool, disconnect the propane and roll it back inside. EASY.

So four stars because I still hope it does what I want, which is better flavor than electric and less work than a stick burner, without the cost of buying pellets. In the first cook the wings turned out great, the butt was slice-done, but not pull-able. I hit the stall, and thought I could push the temperature while cooking the wings; couldn't get the temperature up high enough. So the wings took a little longer and I should have wrapped the butt. After science, it becomes art, and I'll know more by year end.

I am still optimistic. I weighed the propane tank and only burned 1/4 of a 20 pound bottle, small tank like the one on a typical home grill.

Good quality large smoker. Holds temp very consistent, even loaded with 60# of Pork Butt. Water pan design helps deflect flare ups. Assembly instructions easy to follow.

Minor complaints - packaging - internal and external pretty beat up looking but no parts were damaged. Smoke boxes - low clearance, looks like they were designed for chips, I use chunks, and find I need to break down larger ones to get them to fit.

Overall I'm happy and would recommend this smoker.

My 2 units both arrived in nice boxes.... great

1 got taken to mexico the other unpacked here in CA.

Both were dented and came without instructions.

Neither will heat up over 220 and the smoke bins have all warped.

Just off the phone with Kerrie from Smoke Hollow.
She is very nice and gave suitable suggestions.

1. There is some sort of industry standard safety in the regulator that goes on (safety) when you open the propane tank valve fully especially at full tank level.
She said to undo the connection and wait 5 minutes, reattach and slowly open the propane tank 1/4 turn, light the unit and it should be good to go.
a. I have turned mine open all the way, and both units had fresh tanks attached.

2. If that doesn't get the heat up.
She suggested I fiddle with air mixture adjusters which are located at the end of the burner tubes.
a. I looked for them prior to knowing where they were..... As my other units that have adjusters have them at the entrance to the gas to the burner.

I will try these suggestions.... I hope that we have all learned something from them.

She is also sending me new chip boxes that distorted from the many hours of realllllllllly sloooooooow cooking with little flames that warped all 4 of them. Thank you Kerrie.
She is also sending me a manual which neither unit came with.

Great customer service. I will check out unit number 1 after work today in CA. Happy grilling!

Great news!!!!! The regulator safety was my California smokers problem.
It got up over 400 degrees pretty quickly!!!! I did not have the chip boxes in, or the liquid tray.

IT WORKS!!!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY UP TO 4 STARS, only 4 as both my units came in new boxes but were damaged inside like many others have reported, and the temperature gauge that came with each unit is not close to accurate.

For the money, well worth the cooker!

Great

rather cheaply made , but I expected for under $90 -- i will insulate and reinforce it with aluminum diamond plate, should last forever then

Pan for wood chip is made very cheep. Smoker is very flimsy when pick up to move. Not impressed at all in quality.

A lot of the product reviews for this product go something like this:"I've had one of these for thirty years and I've been using it for thirty years and it's built like a tank! I'll be using it till I'm dead!"I'm not convinced.In fact I'm a little suspicious of some of these reviews.This product is not built like a tank. It's built more like a wet tissue.It's made of thin sheet metal that bends easily. In fact the metal is so thin it's difficult to set the unit up without bending it.The door does not have a hinge on it. To use the door, you have to jam it into the front of the unit. It doesn't have any method of fixing to the unit, it just sits inside the frame by friction.Because you have to jam the door into the frame to put it in place, it's nearly impossible to put the door on without bending or warping it.The handle that attaches to the door and to the roof of the unit is fixed with nuts and no washers are included, which means the nuts will loosen and fall off at some point unless I provide my own washers.The handles don't include any method of evenly distributing weight either, and because the unit itself is made of flimsy sheet metal, lifting the unit by the handle causes it to warp and bend.The heating element inside the unit is completely exposed. There is no guard or grille to prevent combustible materials from falling onto it and catching fire.I would estimate that the materials cost for this product is about $15. It is made with the cheapest materials available.I'm afraid to use this product because it is so cheaply made it seems like it would be impossible to use it without setting fire to something.I'm pretty sure if it fell over while in use it would just fall apart, spewing hot ashes everywhere.

Basically you get what you pay for..I was disappointed in how thin the material of the box and felt it would not be able to hold the heat of the smoke.

I bought this smoker mainly to use as a cold smoker. The description states that it works at a constant 165 degrees, which is the temperature I like for smoking chili peppers (my main use for this smoker). However, I have found that it runs much hotter and requires a lot of adjusting to run at lower temperatures. However, for the cost it is still a decent smoker for my peppers.

Just put it together today...haven't used it yet, and I'm a novice smoker, so I can only comment on my initial impression of build quality. I'll try to remember to come back and edit after I've used it.

The smoker seemed to be packed well. Nothing was dented when I unboxed the parts. The sheet metal does seem to be on the thin side, but I wasn't expecting this to be a pro quality smoker. Others have said the doors don't seem to seal tightly. I haven't used it yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if I get some smoke leaking out of the door. I already tighted the latches as far as they'll go (they have some adjustment). If it doesn't seal, I'll stick a gasket around the door.

I at least hooked up a propane tank to it to test it. Some users have reported one burner not lighting. I DID have this same problem with the left burner. I pried back the shield covering the burners and igniters, and saw the wire to the electrode for lighting the left burner was twisted around and jammed in between the electrode and the sheet metal, where the electrode protrudes out to reach the burner. I pulled the wire back behind the sheet metal shield where its supposed to be, and saw that the shielding had been scraped away where it had been jammed against the sheet metal. It was shorting out against the metal. Once I had it pulled away, it ignited just fine. I wrapped that part of the wire with a bit of electrical tape. The problem was definitely an assembly/packing problem (that part of the smoker is already assembled during manufacture).

While I didn't expect this smoker to be pro quality, it was irritating to have to troubleshoot a manufacturing defect. However, it was minor, and seems to now be fully functional. I'll try to come back and update after using it for a bit.

EDIT: working on smoking a brisket. A little bit of smoke leaks out the door, but it's not a big deal. This thing runs HOT. One burner on low, keeps it around 225 F. I got this with the idea of performing DIY modifications to convert to natural gas. If it's running this hot on propane, I may not even have to modify the orifices for natural gas. One I run a gas line to it and test, I'll report back.

The thermometer broke when I put it on the smoker. How do I get this replaced on my brand new smoker (haven't used it yet). Also, the grease cup that was included in the box, not clear how I attach it? How do I attach it properly.

I put everything together. Takes quite a lot of work to put together. Directions aren't great.

Is built not very effective. One of the grill burners, fire is going off so I have to check every 30 minutes. Wood chip pans are too close to the water pan that makes harder to take out and put back your wood chip pans when you smoking meat. Good thing you can bring the temperature to 250-270 and you can smoke a lot of meat.

This is a great smoker. Once you spend a week and more money modifying it, that is. Unfortunately the box is very poorly put together. I got everything securely assembled, which wasn't too hard to do (although this thing is a beast, so make sure that you have space available for assembly). I was so excited about running it for the first time, until I saw smoke pouring out of every poorly assembled piece of this box (factory assembly, not mine). The welding on the main box was so poorly done that I could see sunlight clear through to the other side. The smokestack was bent and warped. The front door wasn't close to being flush. It was sorely disappointing to spend this much money and not have a working smoker. I was getting more smoke on the outside of my house than inside the smoker. But sending it back wasn't really in the cards, since I actually needed a large propane smoker and this is the largest home model that I could find. So I went out to the hardware store and bought Flue Tape to cover all of the seams on the inside and went online to order a FDA-approved food safe gasket for the door ([...]). I got the flue tape in that day, but had to wait for the gasket to arrive and was able to install that a week later. I still have smoke leaking out of the bottom of the lower door (in comes together in a way that it wouldn't work to add the same kind of gasket) and around the warped pieces of the smokestack. But all in all it works like a smoker should. Last night we made some delicious smoked turkey. We used one burner for the turkey, as two burners on low can't go below 300 degrees. Propane makes the temperature is very easy to control compared to using a wood fired smoker. I now have a huge smoker that I am very happy with, but I wish that it had actually come out of the box that way.

A very large smoker. Arrived damaged as the hardware inside came loose and banged around in the sheet metal cabinet. Also, don't trust the thermometer, as it is not accurate at all. On a 60 degree night and the smoker not in use it was reading 120 degrees. One other thing is the controllers could be better protected from dripping fat on the inside of the box. Otherwise it looks like it will get the job done. I'll update this post when I put it to the test.

It has thin walls, insulator is needed and a warm place to do the smoking, chip pan is tiny, and no you cant fit a whole chicken in there.

I used this this past week and it does not get hot enough. It took me 48 hours to smoke small, 1/2 to 3/4 inch fish fillets

I bought this product recently and it does not actually cook your food like pork or chicken, unless you leave it in a long time. It just gives it the smoky taste. I have used it for fish and it works great. I would recommend it for those who want to smoke or make small batches of jerky, etc. Smells great!

Good pre smoker. Not a good final smoker, not hot enough

It arrived dented but they did replace it extremely quickly, A+ on customer service. It just seems the unit is cheaply made, very thin metal like a cheap cookie sheet. The door isn't attached to anything, so it just falls out of you don't put it in right. Also it doesn't cook meat, only makes it taste smoked.

Not many directions on if to soak chips or not to soak chips. No temperature gage to cook things by degrees. Product was crushed when I got it. Had to do some bodywork on yo get door off.

So as many have stated the gas manifold wasn't manufactured to acceptable standards, this is a very cheap unit most likely made in an obscure china factory with horrible working conditions. I would buy something else. I spoke to Smoke Hollow over the phone and they told me it was due to my gas valve being too high or too low. Or I didn't stand on only my left foot to keep both burners, burning. Or was that my left foot.. hmm. You will get food poisoning from the burner going out or a huge waste of meat. Enjoy!

made cheap.lots of smoke leaks, the burners don't burn evenly

Had to take it apart and adjust air input for burners in order for it to work correctly.

Cannot be used to cook smoke meats other than fish and jerky.

This is not a smoker thst cooks ur food even tho in description it says it slow cooks. Very misleading. Don't waste your time. It only flavours ....then u have to cook it somewhere else!!!..what's the sense. Buy a chip box and use your grill if that's what u need

Missing pieces.No drip tray only two shelves.Bag of smoke chip was half empty

How this got so many 5 star reviews is beyond me - All it does it smoke - literally - If you want to SMOKE your food (and not heat or cook it) I guess this would be an OK unit. But I have had disposable foil pans made with stronger materials than this thing is. VERY flimsy. I had a ham in there for over 5 hours and it never even got room temp. So after 5 hours of smoking it I still had to heat it up in the oven. Even more disappointed in the price. The bag of wood chips is worth more in materials than this thing is. It probably costs the company $5 to make these things.

Very disappointed. Light weight does not hold temperature. Does not work like advertised.Would not by again .

Flimsy. Heating element never got up to temperature.

I bought one and it did not work properly. returned it for another and it too did not work properly. I have been smoking for years. I even owned 2 smaller smokey hollow units and I have never had issues with them. I am really disappointed in the function of this unit. I would not recommend at all unless you want meat that is under temp and a lot of frustration.

I am very quite disappointed in this smoker. I cannot bring the temperature over 150 degrees.
I have tried changing the tank to see if that would make a difference. Nothing. I am not happy with this smoker. Crap.

Okay it's not hard to count, the hardware package came with 9 1/4-20 Flange nuts right per description, But one problem step 3 needs 2,1/4 -20 flange nuts, step 8 needs 8, 1/4 -20 flange nuts. Let's get this right I already used 10 flange nuts, but it get better step 11 needs 1,1/4-20 flange nuts & step 13 need 2 1/4-20 flange nuts, so that's 13 flange nuts needed for assembly but only 9 is listed in package. Very disappointed so I'll save my review for later when I can complete the smoker assembly

This product came with quite a bit of damage. It was bent in several places, but disassembling it and sending it back would have been twice the work. After bending things back and getting it together, Left vent would not open and close. Wholly dissatisfied with this product

AVOID!!! Terribly shoddy construction: busted welds, crooked rack holders, door latches not centered with their holders making for a tenuous bond. Mine has its left side caved in making it unuseable. The areas that aren't busted or crooked have very tiny weld spots - it's just a matter of time that the smoker fails. Inner boxes are shredded and wholely unsuited for the journey to the buyer. For this $$ you should expect to receive a product that only needs assembly, not attention from a welding and repair crew.