Oklahoma Joe's Highland Reverse Flow Offset Smoker

i bought this after having several "tin" smokers. this will never rust out in my lifetime. heavy construction, wind doesnt seem to bother it. i had to use a wind break with my old ones. if i would have bought this years ago i would be ahead several hundred dollars. am looking forward to trying it mid dec. cold in iowa.

Posted earlier about the excellent fit and quality of my new Highland Reverse Flow Smoker. Yesterday I finally got the opportunity to season it. After reading everything I could on what others have done, I decided to use a paint brush to apply a thick coating of 100% pure Canola oil (appears thicker than spray oil). I also coated the entire outside of the smoker being sure to dap oil around all lid closure points. I also placed four Southern Living magazines under each wheel to give it a slight tilt toward the drain-end such that during the seasoning process, excess oil could easily drip from the smoker. I filled the basket nearly all the way with unlit charcoals and then added a mini-chimney of lit charcoals to the top. After closing everything up, opened the exhaust damper up all the way and the air intake damper to 1/2" open. This allowed smoker to settle in on 263 degrees for 8 hours without any deviation and another 2 hours at 210 degrees without adding coals (reminiscent of cooking with an UDS - set it and forget it smoker). Through the whole process, there was very little smoke seen escaping from the cook chamber lid (at most, a whiff every now and then), and none from the fire box (very careful to tighten bolts in a cross pattern similar to changing a car tire so as to apply equal torque gradually to all bolts and avoid any type of warpage). Today I plan to fire my smoker back up this time raising the temperature up to 300 degrees for 4 - 5 hours to further set and hardened the lacquer-like protective glaze that I now have on the inside and outside of my smoker with no paint damage. The oil around the closure points apparently helped to form a gasket to prevent leaks that would have eventually formed during cooking process over time. My smoker is totally stock and I love the way it has performed so far. I cannot wait to begin cooking in the very near future, but appear rain is forecasted for the next several days.