If you are really serious about barbecuing in your patio or outdoors, you might have considered getting a top-notch grill.
Weber Smokey Mountain and Big Green Egg are the two industry-leaders when it comes to charcoal smokers and it gets quite overwhelming to choose between them.
- Weber is known to produce variety of smokers, grills and combo grills.
- Big Green Egg is renowned to make all-in-one units that grill, smoke, sear, bake and even roast.
This in-depth guide will highlight the attributes and advantages of each smoker, so you will know which one works the best for you.
Let’s see the similarities and differences between grills by both the companies:
At a Glance: Main Differences between Big Green Egg vs Weber Smoking Mountain
| Big Green Egg | Weber Smokey Mountain | |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Ceramic | Steel with Porcelain coating |
| Sizes | 7 sizes | 3 sizes |
| Cooking Area | From 79 sq. In to 672 sq. In based on the size | From 286 sq. In to 726 sq. In based on the size |
| Fuel | Lump Hardwood Charcoal | Charcoal |
| Air Control System | 2 dampers | 4 dampers |
Table of Contents
Big Green Egg vs. Weber Smokey Mountain
| Name | Image | |
|---|---|---|
| Big Green Egg |   | Buy on Amazon |
| Weber Smokey Mountain |   | Buy on Amazon |
What is the Weber Smokey Mountain?
Weber Smokey Mountain is one of the Weber’s most popular cooker smokers, known for its sturdy and muscular build. Serious meat smokers and BBQ fanatics speak highly of WSM when it comes to its design and performance.
Over the years, WSM has gone through several design changes such as better build, introduction of new sizes, inbuilt thermometer and so on.
Weber Smokey Mountain is a premium bullet-shaped charcoal smoker that gives tough competition to even commercial-scale smokers. It can retain a steady temperature for couple of hours and the learning curve with this unit is shorter. You can experience classic, traditional-style barbecuing and smoking with WSM.
Even amateurs can master smoking using Smokey Mountain series.
What is better about Weber Smokey Mountain?
One thing that’s impressive about WSM is its damper system that allows you to control the heat inside the smoker without even lifting the top lid. You can increase or lower the temperature simply by closing or opening the vents. Fully closing the vents will cut off oxygen supply, thereby extinguishing the charcoal.
Besides, Weber Smokey Mountain is built to be sturdy with beautiful sleek finishing. Weber uses premium porcelain coatings over solid steel frames to make them highly durable and rust-resistant.
Additionally, WSM comes with metal legs, 2 nickel-plated steel cooking grates, a built-in lid thermometer and a small footprint. Its minimalistic and simple design is what makes it stand out from the rest.
What is a Big Green Egg?
Big Green Egg is one of the prominent and largest companies to make kamado-style cookers since 1974 across the world. Their very first kamado cooker became very popular for its highest quality outdoor performance.
The company’s grills are referred to as “Eggs”, due to its obvious resemblance to eggs and they’re seen as industry-standard. They’ve been around for 40 years now and their ceramic kamado-style green grills are the most premium, fuel-efficient and versatile units you’ll ever see.
Not just smoking, but Eggs provide you with different cooking options- right from searing, baking, roasting to grilling. If you own an EGG, you simply wouldn’t need another grill as it can practically act as a smoker, rotisserie unit, pizza oven, BBQ grill and more.
What is better about Big Green Egg?
The highly versatile design of Big Green Egg is what sets it apart from the competition. With an EGG, you can grill perfect steaks and burgers at a high temperature- even at 750º F. It has a patented air flow system featuring two dampers with which you can accurately control the heat of the grill. The calibrated temperature gauge can be adjusted from 150°F to 750°F.
With a convEGGtor, your EGG can easily bake pies, pizzas, bread, cobbles and casseroles like the ones made in commercial-grade ovens. Besides, it is able to retain all the juices and flavors of the meat and veggies when you roast them.
BGE is made from ceramic.
The 1” thick cast-ceramic insulation on the EGGS is what makes it optimal to use outdoors, no matter how the weather is. It accurately lets you control the heat inside, even at a low temperature. You can control it from 200°F to 350°F for those perfect smoked ribs, chicken, lamb or any other cuts. It can slow cook any of your delicious cuts at a low heat for straight 15 to 18 hours. The heavy-duty grill lid with gasket further adds to its excellent heat retention capacity.
BBQ aficionados love EGGS due to their excellent performance and slow cooking abilities. EGGS can stand up to any cooking style in any weather condition; be it warm, cold or rains. Plus, they also hold a high status due to their expensive price tag.
This kamado grill does not require you to set up gas burners, propane gas tanks or briquettes. Simply, add lump hardwood charcoal in the lower section of your EGG and light it up. The patented air control system will create humongous amount of heat and evenly disperse it across the interior.
Big Green Egg vs Weber Smokey Mountain: How are they Similar?
It is kind of unfair to compare the Big Green Egg and Weber Smokey Mountain series, as BGE is a kamado-style cooker.
The only thing that is similar between these two units is their dome shape.
Big Green Egg is not just an exceptional smoker, but also an all-in-one unit that can smoke, grill, bake, roast and sear. On the other hand, WSM is your traditional, dedicated charcoal grill that can smoke and grill BBQs. It is not capable of high heat searing though.
When it comes to smoking, both these units will do an amazing job.
Big Green Egg vs Weber Smokey Mountain: What’s the difference?
Big Green Egg is often compared to the Weber Smokey Mountain, even though Big Green Egg is a kamado-style cooker. Both the grillers are quite popular amongst meat smokers and barbeque fanatics.
WSM is a standard charcoal grill, while Big Green Egg is a kamado cooker- its name is derived from the Japanese word for ‘stove’.
BGE Ceramic Cooker is simple to use, has a robust frame and is backed with lifetime warranty. Egg-shaped kamados are better in performance than charcoal grill, especially for pizzas and other smoking recipes. This is due to the fact that they can retain low heat for long hours once the ceramic sets at an ideal temperature.
A kamado-style cooker is a whole different unit than a standard grill. They are able to do various kinds of cooking- right from high temp grill, smoke, bake, roast, grill to even 750°F sears. Due to its efficient design, you don’t really have to add extra fuel while smoking. Besides, a kamado can prepare the moistest of meats you’ll see.
Here are some of the main difference between a Big Green Egg and Weber Smokey Mountain:
- Cooking on a WSM charcoal grill is much easier and easy to learn. Whereas, cooking on a kamado-style cooker demands patience. With time, you will figure out tips and tricks and then you’ll have a lot more fun with kamados.
- Due to their heavy ceramic build, Big Green Eggs are heavier and therefore not really ideal for portability. On the other hand, WSMs have a small footprint and are light enough to carry on-the-go for fun outdoor BBQs.
- Due to the premium materials and top-notch ceramic construction, BGE is way more expensive than WSM. Value shoppers will be more inclined towards WSM due to its large cooking space offered at a lesser price tag.
- Big Green Egg is extremely fuel efficient as compared to Weber. It uses 100% natural lump charcoal that ignites easily and burns more efficiently than your briquettes. As it contains no additives and chemicals, the taste of food cooked in a BGE is moister and full of flavors.
- Once you load the fuel in your EGG, it can smoke your cuts low and slow for 18 hours without the need to reload, which might not be the case with a WSM.
- Weber Smokey Mountain might not get as hot as a ceramic BGE cooker, but it does a pretty decent job as well.
- Setting up the Weber for indirect cooking is much easier than a BGE. With an EGG, you need to separate out the food and the fire with a barrier. You cannot really gather the charcoal at one side in BGE, as you can do in a Weber. But BGE offers remarkable heat control; you can easily increase or decrease the temperature within a short time span.
- Even if you keep your EGG out in the backyard in a brutal climate, it won’t depreciate whatsoever. It literally demands no maintenance at all. Same is not the case with the WSM, as it does not have an airtight lid.
- Cleaning the WSM is much easier than your EGG, as you have to completely remove the grates to scoop out the ash in kamado cookers.
Who should get a Big Green Egg?
If you’re a variety chef and you’d like to try and experiment all kinds of cooking styles with your kamado cooker, then Big Green Egg Cooker would be just perfect for you!
Benefits of buying a Big Green Egg
Here are some of the best factors that Big Green Egg has going on:
- BGE has a ceramic construction that provides great insulation and air flow control.
- It can cook at lower temperatures, without being drastically affected by snow, rains or cold weather.
- Big Green Egg doubles as an oven for baking, without using any conversion kits. Weber Smokey Mountain can bake too, but it requires an oven kit.
- Highly versatile design of BGE lets you smoke, grill, sear, bake and roast your favorite cuts.
- Big Green Egg uses little fuel, and burns hotter and longer than the Weber Smokey Mountain.
For most people, price is the main factor that inclines them towards Weber Smokey Mountain, instead of BGE. But if price doesn’t really matter to you and you really want excellent temperature control, then Big Green Egg is the ultimate choice for you.
Though BGE is an excellent cooker, it is definitely heavy. If portability matters to you, you might want to look elsewhere. Apart from this, cost is another factor. With BGE, you will be spending more than double the price of WSM for the unit and its accessories.
As for the positive points, then no grill can beat the high heat grilling abilities of Big Green Egg. It is an excellent kamado for cooking pizza, breads, steaks, smoked ribs, roasted chicken, and so much more. It carries out double duty than a WSM and can even cook in cold weather.
So, if you don’t really cook large volumes of BBQ outdoors, Big Green Egg will be just fine for you.
You should go for Big Green Egg if you look for:
- Fuel efficiency
- Versatility
- Ability to cook in cold weather
Who should get a Weber Smokey Mountain?
Unlike BGE, the Weber Smokey Mountain is a dedicated charcoal smoker that offers a huge 726 sq. Inches cooking space (22” model) at lesser price than BGE.
With this extra space, you can host BBQ parties and smoke ribs, chickens, briskets and more for a large group of people with the smoker going for long time.
If you consider value for money, Weber Smokey Mountain is the best smoker you could ask for. It is a perfect unit for your backyard/patio smoking sessions. Even with a large cooking space, it flaunts a small footprint to blend perfectly with small decks or patios.
Benefits of Weber Smokey Mountain
- With a WSM, you will be investing a lot less, while BGE grills are very expensive
- Smokey Mountain also offers large cooking space for lesser cost, especially the 22” model
- Weber Smokey Mountain is way more portable as compared to BGE
If you are a routine meat smoker or frequently host BBQ patio parties for a large group of people, then Weber Smokey Mountain series is just right for you. It is the best smoker for most homeowners, given its portable size, reasonable price and large cooking capacity.
WSM 18” model is the most popular one due to its ideal cooking area, but you can go for a 22” model if cooking for larger groups. The 14” one is also a good option for people who have compact spaces and need to cook for small group of people.
You should go for a Weber Smoking Mountain if you look for:
- Affordable grill
- Portable design
- Large cooking space
Conclusion
To be honest, both the smokers- Big Green Egg and Weber Smokey Mountain are absolute beasts when it comes to smoking and they shine in their own unique way.
Since BGE is a kamado cooker, you cannot really compare it with a dedicated smoker like WSM.
Still, we’ve tried to lay out all the attributes, pros and cons of each smoker, so it will be easier for you to make an informed decision, as per your grilling needs.
Happy grilling!
