Pit Boss
Pit Boss 30-Inch Gas Vertical Smoker
The budget end of the propane cabinet category: a dual-burner 12,500 BTU gas vertical with four porcelain-coated racks and a manual needle valve rather than a thermostat. That is the key distinction from Masterbuilt's ThermoTemp — you set the flame and the cabinet drifts with the weather, which is why it costs $100 less. A door-mounted dial is the only temperature feedback.
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Specifications
Pros
- ✓983 sq in for $300 is the cheapest large cabinet capacity in this comparison set
- ✓Dual-burner 12,500 BTU system recovers heat far faster than an electric element after the door opens
- ✓No electricity needed — works at a campsite, a deer camp or during an outage
- ✓320°F ceiling beats every electric cabinet here, enough for edible poultry skin
- ✓Four porcelain-coated racks and a 2-year warranty at a price where most rivals give one year
Cons
- ✗Manual gas valve, not a thermostat — temperature drifts with wind and ambient cold and needs babysitting
- ✗The built-in door dial is the only readout and dial thermometers at this price are routinely 20–30°F out
- ✗Thin, uninsulated body makes winter cooking a fight
- ✗No probes, no app, no digital anything — budget for a separate dual-probe thermometer
- ✗Wind sensitivity of an exposed burner means a sheltered location is close to mandatory
Compare the Pit Boss 30-Inch Gas Vertical Smoker
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Pit Boss's largest electric cabinet and the direct competitor to Masterbuilt's 40-inch. A 1,650-watt element heats the cabinet and a chip tray beside it makes the smoke; there is no auger and no burn pot, so the smoke is the thin, controllable kind an element produces rather than the heavier output of a pellet cabinet. It undercuts the Masterbuilt 710 WiFi by adding 610 sq in at a lower price, and the 300°F ceiling is 25°F above Masterbuilt's.
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A vertical pellet cabinet, not a pellet grill with a lid — five racks stacked in an insulated cabinet with an auger-fed burn pot at the base and a chimney above, so heat and smoke rise past every rack in sequence. That is the opposite of a horizontal pellet grill, where a diffuser plate spreads heat sideways. This is Pit Boss's replacement for the Copperhead 3-Series name and carries a 50 lb hopper and WiFi.
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