Weber 40020 Smokey Joe Gold Charcoal Grill

A good value but the design needs improvement. By not having vents at the bottom, I feel the grill does not get hot enough. The side vents are good but bottom vents would result in better convection and a hotter grill. Not fun to clean as you need to pick up the whole unit and turn it upside down. Quality is excellent as usual from Weber. In any case I still recommend highly.

I bought my Smokey Joe to use while on a 30 day business trip to give me and my partner an alternative to eating at the local restaurants every night. As it turned out, we only ate out two days during the entire trip. Every other night was spent grilling on the Smokey Joe. First thing the next morning, I would clean out the ash, carry it back to my room and reload it for the evening. If you are a Weber Kettle user, you will feel right at home and have no problem adjusting. You will be suprised at how much you can really put on it. I started with the recommended 30 pieces of charcoal, but soon found that to be a little lacking in heat. Found that 35 was about right for chicken and veggies, but 40 were needed to steak and pork. Plan on putting it to work from time to time at home also. Best $35 I spent in a long time.

I had one of the original Smokey Joe grills when I was single (a long time ago). I used it at my apartment and took it on camping trips. It worked well at home, but it was a pain to take camping. It was tippy and always fell over in the truck, sending the grates, lid and kettle all over the place. The Gold model remedied that shortcoming. The lid locks down tight for portability. The tripod leg system still isn't as stable as a four-leg system would be but the Gold model is not as tippy as the standard model I used to have. (I wonder whatever happened to my old Smokey Joe?)

The Gold model also remedied the other shortcoming of the original Smokey Joe--that silly pan to catch the ashes and cinders. It never worked well, the vent in the bottom would clog up, the ashes blew all over the place in the wind and it was a royal pain to clean up. The Gold model holds the ashes in the belly of the kettle so there's less mess. I line the bottom of the kettle with aluminum foil, set fire to the charcoal and, after everything cools down, I just pick up the foil and dump the ashes with little left to clean up.

The Smokey Joe works great for indirect cooking of small roasts or other small, but thick, cuts of meat. Put the charcoal on a side of the kettle with a vent, put the meat on the other side. Close the vent on the kettle on the meat side, open the vent on the fire side, open the lid vent and put the vent holes over the side with the meat. It creates a draft inside the kettle that works extremely well. The size of the grill prevents true slow cooking but this modified indirect method works extremely well.

I have to disagree with a previous reviewer who said the venting system didn't work and the charcoal fire goes out. It just doesn't happen if you get the fire going properly to begin with. I love it that the vents are on the sides of the kettle instead of underneath the coals.

The Smokey Joe Gold is for our RV. It fits in the storage compartment and if it tips over it doesn't create a big mess. It's perfect for cooking and relaxing around an isolated campsite or adding a little downhomeness to those concrete parking lots they call RV parks that we sometimes have to use when traveling. It's a great improvement over the original Smokey Joe if you need a portable grill to take along with you.

This is the king of grills. It's easy to store, a breeze to clean, and grills food just as well as grills that cost hundreds of dollars. It's also a snap to assemble! Yeah, that's right. It's easy to assemble. With some of these fancy grills, you need a PhD in mechanical engineering to assemble the darn things. Simplify your life, save some hard-earned dollars, and buy this little gem of a grill. Its main strength is its pure simplicity. Form doth follow function-a rarity in American design!

Though this is a portable grill, it is terrific for at home use if you're single, or have a small balcony apartment. It takes very little space, and is easy to maneuver when cleaning time comes.

I've used this gem for years. My apartments, on the whole, mandated the simplicity and efficiency offered up by the Smokey Joe.

A great feature is the rounded top. This enables better smoking, as air and smoke circulates more fluidly.

The downsides:
The legs aren't as sturdy as they could be. Given time, a bit of bumping around and general abuse, and the screwed on legs might turn askew. If you notice this while the grill is hot, you've a problem. The solution is to keep them tight during non-use.

The air intake at the bottom gets clogged with ashes. A key to good charcoal grilling is the manipulation of air flow. The intake might be open, but stopped up. If you are diligent to clean the ahes, you'll be OK.

Because the grill is so close to the ground, you need to be careful. Unlike most of Weber's grill, this one os also apt to getting kicked over, run into by dogs, cars and children.

I fully recommend Weber's Smokey Joe. Now, I'm hungry. Time to stir the coals and pop on a few brats.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com