James Wales Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I'm really looking at getting an offset smoker although the decent ones on the market are exceptionally expensive. Has anybody got any plans or experience of building an offset. Has anyone ever imported one from America it seems that would be cheaper than the prices some in the U.K are. How much is import duty?? I would like one of a similar size to a Oklahoma joe any help on plans or other hardware that's worth the money would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Hi James, do not have any plans, but if you do a search they are easy enough to find. Do you have the skills and equipment to build yourself or are you looking to get someone else to build for you? If you are looking to have it built, it would not be cheap, as their is a lot of man hours that go into building a smoker. Are you looking to recycle, say a Gas Cylinder for the body and the firebox. This is the cheapest way of doing it, but it will limit the diameter of the smoker. You will need to calculate every part of the smoker, this depending on what you are using. If you go to a metal stockist they may have some ends of steel pipe around that they me sell cheap. You would need around 500mm diameter for the main body. Then either heavy duty plate (min 6mm thickness) to fabricate the firebox, which must suit the cooking chamber. Also the inlet from the firebox to chamber has to be calculated, along with the chimney. If these are wrong you may struggle, A to get temperature or B to control temperature. Use this site to calculate all these points. http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html Not sure on import taxes, but shipping cost alone would be expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Importing a good smoker from the USA for personal use these days is usually more expensive than buying one here. Currently the poor £-$ exchange rate is working against you plus on top of the purchase price you will have to pay shipping (Will depend on size and weight), Import tax (~2.5%) AND VAT (20%). I imported one a few years ago (when the exchange rate was at a more favourable 1:1.7) and it still cost me almost as much to get it over here than it actually cost me to buy it. Good quality smokers are very heavy. It will depend on how much you are looking to pay but you will usually be better off buying one from a company that is importing them in bulk and therefore reducing their initial purchase cost and spreading their shipping costs. One company I have seen at Grillstock a couple of times and have been impressed with their build and prices is BBQ Mates. You may want to take a look at their web site http://www.bbqmates.co.uk/bm-grills-smokers/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Wales Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Thanks for the input. I might just have to save a bit of money and get a decent one. I'm thinking reverse flow will probably be more economical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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