Backwoods chubby and competitor in the crate

They're finally home - here's the crate pics

The delivery truck arrived at 6pm Friday and it's winter on a rainy day, so it was already dark outside. We'll have a nice long meet and greet in the morning.

It looks like the big poppa Competitor in the back there has some finger prints on the door, but everything looks perfectly undamaged.

Tomorrow starts the weekend, and I'll get both cookers off the pallet and moved over to the back yard patio where I will work with them until I'm ready to convert our competition bbq trailer for use with these cookers.

Because it's a rainy weekend, I'll setup a tarp on the patio awning to keep a dry work area. I'll inspect every inch of both cookers to confirm my working knowledge of the units, and then light them both up to burn off any remaining manufacturing oils and goo.

I plan on burning off both cookers all day - just let em burn! This will give me a starting read on vent settings and burn times with dry water pans - i do not like cooking with water!

The timing is actually pretty good because while the burn off happens on Saturday, I'll be cooking my world famous Dungeness crab chowder - it will be the prefect complement to the stormy weather scheduled for outside tomorrow.

Sunday is game day, so once all the manufacturing goo is cooked off, we'll season both Backwoods cookers, and cook some smoked wings in the Chubby and competition spare ribs in the Competitor.

Stay tuned, this is going to be fun

BTW: Professional level competition bbq is one thing. But I'm also really excited to see what that Chubby will do for back yard and mobile tailgate cooking.

For example, I notice at campgrounds or tailgate parties that groups tend to keep to them selves a lot. That's a shame! On the other hand, what could bring people together better than bbq?

My favorite part of any tailgate party or campground setting is schmoozing around the other camps with a tray of some tasty bbq treats we've cooked up to share. That's when people really seem to start to warm up, cross camps and make new friends - it's what bbq is all about - sharing your passion with friends and neighbors.

How about that! BBQ - the ultimate social network!

Thanks Andy Bangs, my favorite Backwoods Smoker dealer.