First off, I am new to the board but have been hovering around for awhile. My great friend/teacher (Pat Smith) directed me here before and after I aquired my wsm.

So, I have been told many times that I needed to get a wsm if I could. I had been smoking venison on a kettle grill for some time and it was working out good. Well this past summer when Pat was up visiting he had brought along a wsm to the lake. As we were talking aobut the smoker We were talkng about them and I had mentioned that i had just picked up a new unused brinkman pretty cheap. figured it was a good way to get into doing a little more, even if it meant a little more attention as things moved along. Well in the mean time I was also looking for a larger aquarium that I could build into the wall of my basement. So as I looked I found one about an hour and fifteen away. So off on a road trip I went. As I just started to cruise down the road I noticed a yard sale. Keep in mind there is always stuff out for sale in the yards in this area. So as I get closer I look up and notice that there was smoker out in the one yard. I didn't think much of it at first. Then all of a sudden I noticed it was a wsm as I went by. Quickly realizing this I looked over at the friend that was with me to help load things up, and said "that's a weber". I got this look like what are you talking about. Well I did a u turn in the road and went back. I pulled into the driveway got out and started walking towards the smoker. As i walked up to it the lady selling it came up as well. I started to look it over and she was telling me that her husband only used it two maybe three time. thi was apparent because there was no bbq buid up. Well I looked at the price and to my surpirse it said $25. Well only having a twenty on me as I was paying cash for the aquarium I offered her $20 and to my delight she said yes. Well lets just say at that point I could not load it up fast enough. I gave her the twenty loaded it and jetted off to my next stop an hour away.In the mean time I had to call and tell pat about my deal. I think he was in shock. I know I was seeing that my understaning was if I could find one for something around $100 i would be doing good. Well needless to say i think I have gotten my $20 worth of use and then some. So that's my story and I am sure I will be sharing some of the stuff I am doing on it as the time goes by.

great story and i'm happy for ya. that being said i get a bit upset cuz stuff like that never happens to me. i'm happy with my wsm find but would just love something like that to happen to me. lucky ya knew what they looked like.

Great story. That's a steal!

Here are a few pictures of it in action. I don't remember what year this one is but Pat looked it up maybe he will remember. I can tell you that it has a wood handle and stainless grates. Yea I figured I pretty much stole it. It has been a great addition to the weber natural gas and kettle grills.

Congrats Steve on your great find, and fine looking cooks!

I'm guessing that the best deals are made from wives selling their husband's 'stuff'

Member Pat Smith was a great help to me also when I first started using my WSM.

Keep the posts & pics coming Steve!!

Young Steve is an eager student and a quick learner - you can take a look at the great looking cooks and see that!

Steve's wife and my wife are best friends (and both think we have too much BBQ stuff) and grew up together in Michigan.

Unfortunately, we now live 13 hours from Jan and Steve and the only smoking we get to do together is when we're together at the lake houses in the summer.

However, we've gotten in the habit of doing "virtual smokes" together by sending each other pictures of our cooks when we're smoking.

Glad you finally found the time to tell your WSM story (even if it makes the rest of us jealous - after all, I had only 2 WSM's when you found yours - I could always use a third WSM - especially if it cost only $20 bucks)!

So Steve, what are we smoking this weekend? I'm thinking Ribs!

Pat Smith

My wife definalty thinks I have to much. She even mentioned something about a green egg just hoping I would get rid of all the other charcoal grills/smokers. I decided at this time it wasn't worth the money seems I have a smoker that works great and only cost $20.

Nothing this weekend. We will be in East Lansing saturday. Next weekend though I have seventeen pounds of boston butt I am doing for the tailgate.

Here is dinner from the other day that I started at noon while I was on lunch




It is unfortunate that we are so far apart. I will have to agree though that the virtual smokes work well.

You a lucky man Steve! Excellent buy and Nice cooks there too!
Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone so far.

It was a big surprise to me when I walked up and saw the price. There was no hesitation in my step when I was loading it up.

I will keep things coming. As you can tell by the pics I have posted I really hate to cook. Yea right. I love bbqin and the wsm brings just that much more joy to it.

...after thinking about this situation you were in, Steve.... had it been me, if my dog were with me, I might have traded her for the WSM.... (of course, ONLY had I not enough cash on me...)

Nice score!

I got my 22 1/2" through deception. For about 5 years I used an ECB and really wanted a WSM but I knew my wife was not going to shell out the $400 for it. So I kept hinting I wanted a BGE, the xlg one, which costs almost a $1000 with the extra's. After a month of that she said, "look, I'm not shelling out a grand for a fancy grill, you can have the WSM but no BGE"!

But I still would like a BGE...

I would also like a BGE. I did have the chance to get one and it was approved by my wife but I did the more sensible thing and put a cover on the bed of my truck for when we travel to places i can lock things up and keep them dry. I figured with a great smoker that only cost me $20 there was no real reason to get a BGE yet. Someday I will have one but until then I will enjoy what I already have.