Lonestar Grillz 24x36 Offset Smoker

I got the Lonestar placed on my cement patio yesterday.  It took four guys and a Bobcat to get it from my driveway to the back yard lol.  It's an AMAZINGLY HEAVY and well-built cooker!  I had high expectations, but this greatly exceeded them.

I find it amazing to see how incredibly detailed and meticulously built this thing is!  I mean... You can imagine this huge, heavy cooker that looks like it could go to war and come out completely unscathed any day of the week, yet the lines and welds are so detailed and refined they look like they were done by someone creating rare art or sculpture.  In terms of smokers, it's as good as I've ever seen, then even gooder (is that a word?  I know it's not a word but it's my blog so lol).

Once it was set in place and I got to admire it for a while, it was time to take my Son to baseball practice.  The initial seasoning process takes several hours and I knew there would not be enough time to perform it that day.  I decided to do it the next day and spend time with my Son while doing it.  We started by removing all the grates and internal components, then spraying the entire inside with PAM as recommended by LSG.  I actually think I went too heavy on the spray but that's a story for another day.  We also sprayed the components and placed them back into the cooker.  I then lit my very first fire on a legit offset smoker!

I'll admit, I was a bit nervous.  What I learned was that fire is fire no matter where you are working with it. It's a simple concept of air intake and exhaust (oxygen control) and as long as you're patient, you can control any cooker once you've learned it.  Within an hour, I was very comfortable and confident in using it and managing the fire/temps.  Seven hours later, the process was complete.

Now, the big decision of course... WHAT TO COOK FIRST?  I feel like Ribs would be a great way to break it in and I know my family won't mind lol.  Any ideas for me?  I won't be able to get it done for a few days as we have some rainy weather moving in.  I hope to get it done early next week.  REALLY looking forward to it!

Thank you all for reading and for your kind support!  You're all making my dream come true.  Blessings...

-Mike

P.S. More information on Lone Star Grillz can be found at www.lonestargrillz.com