![]() ![]() I hope this helps you with some of your questions. And if you cannot afford that, get a Weber. But hey for 400 dollars, it really is a decent smoker for a backyard if you are under a budget. They are trying to get it out to the public that Joe is still there and has not gone away to amend their image as if it is a separate brand. It was so bad that Joe has been involved again with Charbroil in promoting. Now recently Charbroil has been under fire as of late on how bad their quality is with their products. When that ended, we got the band back together a few years later minus Joe and revved production back up under the new name of Horizon and got back to our roots. I had left the company by then and had been pursuing a new design for some smokers at a competitor and was heavily involved in cooking competitions. However, all units from the end of 1998 were now coming from China. Many of the longtime distributors until 2008 had been claiming this the whole time when they knew it was incorrect information. After the sale and the manufacturing went to China in 1998, Charbroil led everyone to believe that the units were still be produced in Perry Oklahoma and that we were still running the company. Now the next part is what’s really going to anger many people. It was critical to our manufacturing process. Gone were the days of us selling Oklahoma Joe smokers to feed stores, fairs, festivals and the local hardware stores in Oklahoma and Texas.Īnother way to tell is does the unit have a hanger hook underneath? Is not an original without it. But those are the target streams for them to sell through. It was the big box stores through their channels of distribution that demanded the change from quality to quantity. But to their credit, Charbroil initially wanted to keep as much quality as they could. They are even worse now with more parts crammed into their cheap shipping boxes. The units from China needed to be bolted together to save costs on shipping. Original units had been put together by precision welding. Since they are rolling plate steel, whatever the thickness of the brackets is will be the thickness of the units made that day for the rest of the units. ![]() Also, an indicator is the thickness of the steel on the handle brackets. Decent steel too depending on the orders from the distributers. The reality is the unit was no longer cut from steel ¼ pipe but was from plated rolled steel. ![]() On many of these units the doors were made to be thicker than the actual fire box and cook chamber. It wasn’t what they used to be but was heavy. Charbroil did a nice job keeping them heavy. The myths and the lies out their surrounding the different smokers that first came out of China. The brand lettering is inside the state logo. Remember, less welding made for less skill needed and that made for cheaper labor. To save on shipping costs, Charbroil later removed more welding including the firebox so they would ship from China at a much cheaper rate. The other is the fireboxes were never bolted to the main chambers. Charbroil only did two large spot welds on the bracket handles to the lids. An original Oklahoma Joe will have the welds going all the way up and down on both sides of the brackets. And speaking of small welds, look at the brackets on the handles. When Charbroil purchased our company and assumed our debts, much of the welders for the company at that time were let go and only small welds were used here and there. How to tell if you have an original Oklahoma Joe Smoker made here in Perry Oklahoma: ![]() I will not go into details but it’s just how it is. Please understand I will in no way try to slander any company including Charbroil. I am happy to answer a few of your questions. Please reference our site in case there is anything we can do for you. Thank You for your inquiry and questions for some of our history of quality of product.Īt Horizon we try to keep the same quality of smokers much the same as our old company. I have removed the names but you can kinda guess who it is that responded. He mainly wanted to know how to find an original unit along with some other questions. He sent me a copy of the email he got back from them when he had some questions for them on their old company the OKJ. We went off onto different manufacturers from Weber to Masterbuiltbut but when we got to Horizon, he said he was in contact with them during the summer. SO.I was having a conversation with my friend from KC and we got to talking about smokers.yoders mainly since he is in that state. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |