Emson 8303 Indoor Pressure Smoker, 13.20" L X 12.60" H x 13.20" W, Silver

I made my purchase two weeks ago via the 'deal of the day'. So far, worth every penny. Heck, even at the usual price I would have been pleased.On the first day I smoked 8 pounds of food. First, I tried turkey thighs: I 'hot smoked' for 40 minutes, using 3 chips of pecan wood: the thighs came out perfectly, with the meat fully smoked and falling off the bone. I was sad that I could only fit two turkey thighs inside, but I was able to quickly refresh the cooker and smoke two more. Same wonderful results.Next, pork spare ribs. I cut the ribs up (as recommended), and my wife seasoned them. I managed to get close to four pounds into the pot using the racks, including 'doubling up' on the top rack. I used mesquite chips (3), and set the timer for 50 minutes. Again, the meat was falling off the bone (and 'doubling up' on the top rack did not make a difference). Since they were not 'browned' (since it is a pressure cooker), we put the ribs on a cookie sheet and then under the oven broiler for 10 minutes. My wife (who is the rib eater in the family) was extremely happy, and declared that I no longer would have to fool with the full-sized propane smoker (where we would smoke/cook the ribs, on low heat, for some 9 hours). A saving of 8 hours.Cheese: one uses the 'cold smoke' setting. I did my first batch for 10 minutes, which slightly melted the cheddar cheese I was using. For my other batches I cold-smoked for 8 minutes, which seems to be perfect. My favorite smoked cheese thus far is gouda cheese using three 'Jack Daniels' wood chips (made from the barrells that Jack uses for making whiskey). I will no longer be a slave to purchasing the over-priced smoked cheese one finds at stores.I have all sorts of plans for future smoking. For instance, I will soon be 'cold smoking' hamburger patties using the Jack Daniels chips, then grilling.One oddity: it is a pressure cooker. On my very first batch some steam hissed out of the small weight (or release valve, whatever it is called). Then, silence. On subsequent batches it no longer hissed. Yet, it obviously was pressure-cooking the meat.Second: in the instructions you are told that, when inserting the outer pan into the base unit, to 'line up' the red arrows and then press down, so that the electrical contacts meet. I spent a few fruitless minutes trying to get the outer pan to fit into the lower, using the red arrows. I then noted that the 'red arrow' on the outer pan was crudely 'painted on', while the arrow on the unit itself was not (i.e., it had been incorporated into the lower unit). Hence, I concluded that the worker painting on the red arrow did not do his or her job well that day. I now know that, on my particular unit, the outer red arrow should be slightly to the left of the unit's arrow. I have had no problem since.Cleaning is easy. I find it easier to clean than my regular pressure cookers.I will update if the unit fails, as some other reviews have indicated is a possibility.I will finally note that I am so pleased with this Emson smoker that I looked up the larger capacity, seven-quart smoker. I found that the larger unit seems to get more unfavorable reviews than this smaller one. Nevertheless, I plan on, someday, getting the larger smoker.Edited to add: I 'cold smoked' four hamburger patties for 10 minutes, using the Jack Daniels chips (3). Then I grilled them up. Result was very, very good. Really made a difference to my hamburger. I also just smoked some chicken breasts (two large ones, for 30 minutes, 3 applewood chips) and some of the best chicken I've made, by any method.

I bought this product to gain time for barbecuing. The product arrived with peeled top (the non stick surface of the inner pot was scratched and spelled after the first use). I contacted the vendor, who gave me a tel no of emson service. You can try exhaustively that you will not anyone there to talk to and if you get someone, they will promise to resolve the issue, but thy don'tLong story short, I don't advise you to buy this product.mtoo expensive for the performance and quality. Also the description you get with it is a joke. I still don't have a resolution and after more than 15 tel calls and more than 10 emails I gave up!

For the most part I like it and it does what it claims to do, it works great, you just have to be careful not to put too many wood chips in there or it gets too smokey.I have to refer to the manual everytime I need to lock the lid in place, its not super straight forward and takes some of my brain cells each time I use it until I'm like, "Oh yea, that's how it works, you line that thing up to that part and then when it locks this other part aligns, ha..."Letting the meat rest inside of it after the recommended cooking time and after releasing the pressure is a good idea too, particularly with chicken as the dark meat was right on the edge of done with a few of the recipes from the book; but that is fixable once you know it.The only thing I don't really care for is the cleaning of the main chamber; with the plug on the outside and unable to get wet, it makes cleaning the inside of that removable part a little cumbersome as it's moderate in weight and size and cannot be set down in the sink or the plug would get wet. I would still buy it none-the-less as it's nice to be able to smoke some BBQ ribs in the middle of winter andf have them come out yummy everytime!

The first 4 stars are because this gadget works. I made country-style pork ribs this weekend and they came out tender and delicious. The next star to get to 5 is because I only paid $109 for the pressure smoker on 10/23/11 - a good deal.But alas, minus 1 star leaves us with 4 for two reasons:(a) There's not a lot of space inside. If you use all three racks, the first two can only hold maybe 4 hot dogs or 3 burgers - anything not taller than an inch. If you remove the middle rack, then you have 2 inches on the bottom rack and 2-3 inches on the top rack. Perhaps enough for a small brisket cut into two pieces. I made exactly 7 country-style pork ribs - 3 fat ones on the bottom and 4 slightly smaller ones crammed tightly on the top.(b) It arrived with one of the rack legs missing. This means the rack leans over onto the smoker chamber and the whole thing tilts. Not the end of the world, but clearly shows some shoddy labor (a very poorly soldered leg joint) and makes packing the thing a challenge. More frustrating though is the manual has zero contact information for customer support, and when you try to find the company on the internet you run into a lot of "As seen on TV" websites, as if this company doesn't want to be found. I think I located the holding company who owns this thing and sent them an email; I'm not optimistic about getting a reply but I'll post back on the outcome.One piece of advise - I smoked using powder-style wood chips instead of chunks, and the powder seemed to be consumed very quickly. I think using chucks would have been better to maximize the smoked taste.UPDATE 12/9/11 - I reached [email protected] who sent me a replacement rack within a few days. I am adding a fifth star for this responsive customer service.UPDATE 12/27/11 - Another reviewer wrote "The Emson instructions say to cook chicken pieces for 30 minutes, which produced a slightly overcooked, but tasty dinner." I followed the instructions for a 2 lb pork tenderloin at 40 minutes, which also produced an overcooked piece of meat. I'll try 35 minutes next time.