Santa was very generous this year and just a little confused...
I received two smokers, both little chiefs but one is a top loader and the other is a side loader. I've never used a smoker before and am looking for a little advice. I plan to keep one and take to other one back.
What are your opinions?

you got 2 smokers? man you must catch alot of fish!
tyler

I would trade both in on a Big Chief smoker. It's large enough to smoke an entire side (fillet) of salmon or steelhead. I owned and used a Little Chief for close to 10 years and now I've had my Big Chief for about 8 years and I'll never go back to the Little Chief. More than 50% of the time I'm smoking the entire side of a 5-8lb fish that fits nicely in the Big Chief if you go diagonally with the whole fillet using an entire rack. With the Little Chief you don't have the entire fillet option unless you're doing trout. The Big Chief also has about double the capacity which is nice when you have a bounty of fish to smoke through. If you stay with the Little Chief I prefer the top loader.

My old top loader finally gave up, so one year Santa brought me a new side loader. I hate it. In my opinion the top loader is much better. You can load the whole rack and set it down in the smoker instead of having ot load each shelf seperately. Also for doing cheese, the top loader works better, cause you can put the rack on top of the smoker and cover it with the box, so it doesn't melt the cheese. My $.02

I like the top loader also. Keep the box and cut a hole where the pan slides in cuz it helps insulate the smoker when using it in cold weather. Use the "deluxe salmon brine" that comes in the recipe book. After you take your fish out of the brine use some paper towels and pat dry the meat then coat with maple syrup then smoke away using at least two full pans maybe three. Remember, the better the meat the better the end product, don't expect much from some old "boot" chum or freezer burned humpy.

Beezer

Its all about the top loader. A big chief might be a good idea if you often times try to smoke more than one fish at once, or fish over ten pounds, otherwise the little chief will work great. In the cold temps the cooking time will double, to solve this I turn a large gabage can upsidedown and put it over the smoker (leave a few inch gap at the bottom to fill the pan).

Ridgeway is a genius! Trade'em in for a big chief. I have e-mailed you Granny Griffins Smoked Fish Recipe.

GutZ

Take BOTH the Little Chief top loader, AND the Little Chief front loader back. Then buy a Brinkman Electric Smoker. (Not the charcoal one)
I've owned a couple Little Chiefs over the years, and while they work well, they take forever to smoke a batch of fish (10+hours). I hated getting up in the middle of the night to see if the fish is done yet.
I got a Brinkman this year at Fred Meyer for around $70, and have smoked tons of fish, ribs, and a turkey in it. It uses a pan of water to keep the meat moist, and best of all, does a whole batch of fish in UNDER 3 hours!! I'll never go back to the Chiefs. Check it out.

[ 12-26-2001: Message edited by: Rick Harris ]

Better yet take them both back and get a Cookshack Professional Smoker.Albiet they are not cheap but they are made out of stainless steel and can smoke in any weather conditions.Cabelas sells em.