You want a brisket that falls apart at the touch of a fork, but you also need to sear a ribeye at 600 degrees for tonight’s dinner. It’s a classic dilemma. For years, the "purist" backyard cooks insisted you needed two separate machines—a massive offset smoker that looks like a locomotive and a standard kettle grill for the quick stuff. They were wrong. Sorta. The rise of the smokers and grill combo has changed the math for most homeowners, but if you walk into a big-box store and grab the first shiny black barrel you see, you’re probably going to regret it within six months.
Most people buy these units because they want to save space. That makes sense. Our decks aren't getting any bigger. However, the engineering required to make one box do two very different things—hold a steady 225°F for 14 hours and then hit "hellfire" levels for a steak—is actually pretty complicated. If the metal is too thin, you’ll burn through a fortune in charcoal just trying to keep the temperature stable on a windy day.
The Reality of All-in-One Cooking
Let’s be honest about what a smokers and grill combo actually is. Usually, you’re looking at one of three designs. You have the "Side-by-Side" gas and charcoal units, the "Offset" horizontal barrels, and the modern "Pellet Grill" that claims to do it all.
The side-by-side units (like those Pit Boss or Oklahoma Joe’s models you see at Lowes) are basically two different grills fused together on one frame. They are convenient. You can use the gas side for a Tuesday night burger and the charcoal side for a Saturday rack of ribs. But here is the kicker: they have a massive footprint. You aren't actually saving that much space; you're just putting your eggs in one basket. If the burner tubes rust out on the gas side, you’re stuck with a half-broken giant taking up your entire patio.
👉 See also: Linda Spanish to English: What Most People Get Wrong
Then you have the offsets. These are the iconic barrels with a smaller firebox attached to the side. In a perfect world, the heat and smoke flow from the firebox, across your meat, and out the chimney. In reality? Cheap offsets are notorious for "leaking" smoke from every seal. If you see smoke billowing out from the lid instead of the pipe, you're losing heat. You’ll find yourself using high-temp RTV silicone and felt gaskets just to make a $400 grill work like an $800 one. It's a hobby in itself.
Why Airflow is Everything
If you don't understand airflow, your meat is going to taste like an ashtray. Period.
A lot of beginners think more smoke equals more flavor. That’s a mistake. You want "blue smoke"—that thin, almost invisible wisp of vapor. Thick, white, billowy smoke is full of creosote. It’s bitter. It makes your tongue feel numb. A high-quality smokers and grill combo needs to breathe. This is where the cheap models fail. They don't have enough intake or exhaust control to manage the fire properly. You end up with a fire that’s either choking or roaring out of control.
The Pellet Revolution and the "Searing" Problem
We have to talk about pellet grills because they’ve essentially taken over the market. Brands like Traeger, Camp Chef, and Recteq have made smoking as easy as using an oven. You set a dial to 250, and the auger feeds wood pellets into a fire pot. It’s "set it and forget it."
But can they actually grill?
Honestly, most of them can’t. Not really. Most pellet smokers max out at around 450 or 500 degrees. While that sounds hot, it’s mostly convection heat (hot air). To get a true crust on a steak, you need radiant heat—the infrared energy coming directly from red-hot coals or a flame.
Some newer combos, like the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro or the Weber Searwood, have addressed this. They’ve added "slide and sear" features that allow you to pull a lever and expose the meat to the open flame of the pellet fire pot. It works, but it’s a small "hot spot." You can sear one or two steaks, but you aren't going to sear fifteen burgers at once. If you’re a "charred crust" fanatic, you need to look for a unit with a dedicated sear station or accept that you’ll be finishing your meat in a cast-iron skillet inside the kitchen.
✨ Don't miss: What Really Happened With the Proof I Got Down With 2 Sisters Rumor
Materials: Don't Buy Trash
Thickness matters. It’s not just about durability; it’s about thermal mass.
- 11-Gauge Steel: This is the gold standard for serious backyard smokers. It holds heat like a champ.
- Stamped Steel: This is what you find on the $200 specials. It’s thin. It’s flimsy. It rusts.
- Cast Aluminum: Think PK Grills. It’s amazing for heat retention and will literally never rust, but it's rare to find in a large "combo" format.
If you can pick up the grill with one hand, don't buy it. A good smokers and grill combo should be heavy. It should feel like a piece of industrial equipment.
Gravity Fed: The Best of Both Worlds?
There is a relatively new player in the game: the Gravity Series by Masterbuilt or Oldback. These are fascinating. You fill a vertical hopper with real charcoal and wood chunks. Gravity feeds the fuel onto a fire grate at the bottom. A digital fan controls the temp.
These things hit 700 degrees in about ten minutes. They also smoke at 225 degrees for 12 hours on one load of coal. They are arguably the most versatile smokers and grill combo on the market right now. The downside? They are full of electronics. Fans can fail. Control boards can fry. And because they are made of thinner metal than a custom-built Texas offset, they can be prone to grease fires if you don't keep them clean.
Cleaning is the chore nobody mentions in the brochures. When you smoke, you get a buildup of "gunk"—a mix of grease and soot. When you then crank that same machine up to 600 degrees to sear a steak, that gunk catches fire. I've seen more than one "all-in-one" grill melt its own wires because the owner didn't scrape the grease tray before switching from low-and-slow to high-heat mode.
The Maintenance Tax
You have to be diligent. You’ve gotta scrape.
If you live in a humid climate, your pellets will turn into sawdust if you leave them in the hopper. This "jamming" is the number one reason pellet combos break. If you’re using charcoal, you have to deal with ash. Ash plus moisture equals lye, and lye eats through metal. You cannot leave a charcoal-based combo sitting with wet ash in the bottom all winter unless you want to buy a new one next spring.
What Real Experts Look For
I’ve talked to guys who compete on the KCBS (Kansas City Barbeque Society) circuit. They usually have rigs that cost more than a used Honda Civic. But when they go home, they often use a simple smokers and grill combo for the family.
They look for seal integrity.
A simple test: close the lid and look at the gaps. If you can see daylight through the lid of a brand-new grill, walk away. Better yet, look at the hinges. Are they sturdy? Or are they held on by a single, flimsy bolt? You want a machine that feels airtight.
Also, consider the "cooking floor" height. Some of these combos are built so low to the ground you’ll have a backache after flipping burgers for twenty minutes. It sounds like a small detail until you’re three hours into a brisket wrap and your lower back is screaming.
The Myth of the "Infusion"
You’ll hear marketing talk about "flavor infusion chambers" or "steam boxes." Take that with a grain of salt. The flavor comes from the fuel and the fat dripping onto the heat source. That's it. Don't pay an extra $100 for a "water pan drawer" that you could replicate with a $2 disposable aluminum tray from the grocery store.
Focus your money on the thickness of the cooking grates. Stainless steel is okay, but heavy-duty porcelain-coated cast iron is better for searing. It holds more energy. When that cold meat hits the hot grate, you want the grate to stay hot, not immediately cool down.
Actionable Steps for Your Purchase
If you're ready to pull the trigger on a smokers and grill combo, follow this logic.
👉 See also: How Much Is a Serving of Potatoes? The Honest Truth About Portion Sizes
First, determine your "primary" fuel. If you love the ritual of fire, go with a Gravity-fed charcoal unit or a high-end offset. If you value your sleep and want to be able to start a brisket at 11 PM and go to bed, get a pellet-based combo.
Second, check the warranty. Companies like Recteq or Traeger offer decent support, but if you're buying a generic brand from a warehouse club, check if they even sell replacement parts. A grill is a high-heat environment; parts will fail. You don't want to throw away a 200-pound hunk of steel because a $15 fan motor isn't manufactured anymore.
Third, buy a cover. Immediately. I don't care if the manufacturer says it’s "weather-resistant." Water finds a way. It gets into the hopper, it rusts the firebox, and it ruins the electronics. A $50 cover will add three to five years to the life of your machine.
Fourth, invest in a third-party thermometer. The "analog" dials on the lids of these combos are notoriously inaccurate. They measure the temperature at the top of the dome, not at the grate where your meat is sitting. The difference can be as much as 50 degrees. Use a digital probe like a Thermoworks or a Meater to know what's actually happening to your food.
Fifth, do a "burn-off" before your first cook. These machines come from the factory coated in machine oils and residues. Crank it up to its max temperature for at least 45 minutes before you ever put a piece of meat on it. If you don't, your first meal will taste like an oil refinery.
Building a repertoire on a combo machine takes time. Your first brisket might be dry, and your first steak might be gray instead of browned. That's fine. It's a learning curve. But once you dial in the airflow and the fuel management, having one machine that can handle everything from "low and slow" pork butts to "hot and fast" pizza is a game-changer for any backyard cook. Keep the grease trap clean, watch the weather, and focus on the blue smoke.