When Did You Start Smoking?
First REAL run on the Big Green Egg
Funny thing is—I was never really a “cook” guy.
Still kind of aren’t.
But I do enjoy making people happy with good food coming off a smoker.
That part stuck.
How it started
It all began when we were renting in Lake Havasu, Arizona. The owner of the house left behind a couple of smokers for us to use—including a Big Green Egg.
One day I decided to try it out. I had no idea what I was doing. I threw on a pork loin and hoped for the best. It came out… okay.
The next day, the landlord stopped by to do some work. He saw the Egg sitting out and asked if I had ever smoked before.
I told him, “No.”
He just laughed.
Turns out he was a competition smoker.
Not just a backyard guy—a real one.
Next thing I know, he’s walking me through the entire process: dumping lump charcoal, separating it, building airflow, setting up a proper fire. No shortcuts. No guessing. Just how it’s actually done.
His name was Rick, and honestly, he was an awesome landlord.
The “experiment” that changed everything
We got a perfect fire going… but I was out of proper meat.
What I did have was leftovers: pork loin, beans, and spam.
So I thought, why not?
I chopped up the pork loin, mixed it into beans in a cast iron pan, added a little brown sugar and BBQ sauce, and threw it back on the smoker.
Then I looked at the spam.
Rick said he had never really tried it.
So I figured I might as well push it further.
Into the smoker it went.
That spam turned out to be the best I’ve ever cooked.
Rick—who didn’t even eat spam—ended up trying a piece… then a few more. If an award-level competition smoker goes back for seconds, you know something went right.
That was the moment it clicked.
Not the equipment. Not the technique.
Just the idea that fire + smoke + patience can turn almost anything into something worth sharing.
Learning the craft
After leaving Havasu, I didn’t have much—but I wanted to keep going.
I picked up a small, inexpensive vertical smoker and started experimenting again. Nothing fancy. Just learning by doing.
A few years later, I upgraded into a Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker.
That was a turning point in a different way.
I stood in front of it and a Big Green Egg for a long time trying to decide which direction to go. One was pure craft and control. The other was consistency and convenience.
I went with the pellet smoker.
Not because it was better—but because it fit real life at the time.
Turn it on, set the temp, add pellets, and let it run.
Simple. Repeatable. Reliable.
But the Big Green Egg never left my mind.
Where it is now
Five years into running the Pit Boss, I’m circling back.
I’m seriously considering adding a Big Green Egg into the lineup—not as a replacement, but as a complement. Something for higher heat control, better smoke profiles, and multi-temp cooking when I want to step things up.
The goal now is a small, functional cooking “arsenal”:
Pellet smoker for steady, long cooks
Ceramic smoker for precision and flavor control
Secondary grill setup for flexibility on event days
Different tools. Different jobs. Same outcome: feeding people well.
BTB Mess Hall at the track
This year, the Pit Boss is going into the race trailer.
Alongside a small charcoal grill and a Harbor Freight generator, it becomes part of the support system for race weekends.
The plan is simple: run the smoker off generator power during long weekends and feed the crew.
I’m not driving. I’m not chasing seat time.
I’m crew.
And with my trigeminal neuralgia and recovery from brain surgery, I can’t spend long hours in the sun anyway. So I’ll likely be set up in the motorhome with the A/C running, tending smoke, food, and keeping the team fed.
What the Mess Hall is about
The BTB Mess Hall isn’t about being a chef.
It’s about feeding people who are in the middle of building, racing, breaking, fixing, and doing it all over again.
It’s about long weekends, cold mornings, hot pits, and something real coming off the smoker when it matters most.
And if we’re doing it right, there are a few great partners that fit right in here:
Smokers and cook systems
BBQ rubs and competition sauces
Pellets, lump charcoal, and fuel systems
Grilling and outdoor cooking accessories
Because good food and good builds usually come from the same place: time, heat, and doing it right—even when nobody’s watching.
Closing
This didn’t start as a brand.
It started with leftovers in a cast iron pan and a landlord who knew more than I did.
Now it’s part of BTB.
And it’s only getting started.
