Front vs Side Load

Where the Firebox Sits on Your Offset Smoker

Where you throw sticks shapes the whole cook.

Front load puts the firebox door on the cooking side, so tending the fire happens right where you work. Side load puts it on the end, the classic offset profile, and keeps the long side of your pit clear for tight trailer decks. Same oversized intake damper, same infinite control, either way.

Front Load

Throw Sticks From the Front

With a front load firebox there is no need to get on and off your porch to throw sticks. The door faces the cooking side, the fire basket slides out toward you, and tending the fire becomes part of the cook instead of a walk around the pit. Standard on the Patio models and the 2860 Special, and the natural pick for porches and the Express trailer.

  • In reach: tend the fire from the cooking side
  • Porch friendly: no stepping off to throw sticks
  • Trailer ready: ideal on the Express
  • Standard on the Patio models and the 2860 Special
Offered on
266028602880Patio XLThe Patio XL (2460)
Starting at
$8,975
All Front Load models

Side Load

Firebox on the End

Side load puts the firebox on the end of the chamber, the classic offset smoker profile with the stack opposite the fire. It keeps the long side of your pit clear, which matters on tight trailer decks and crowded competition sites. Hybrids and the BFO are side load only, by design.

  • Clear deck: keeps the long side open on tight trailers
  • Classic: stack opposite the fire, the traditional offset profile
  • Required: the only configuration for hybrids and the BFO
  • Same oversized intake damper either way
Offered on
266028602880The BFO
Starting at
$8,975
All Side Load models

This is by far the smoothest running pit I've ever operated.

Jamie T.

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