Oklahoma Joe’s Bronco 2.0 Smoker Essentials Bundle

Charcoal goes into the basket at the base of the drum, with wood chunks mixed through or placed on top for smoke. Air comes in through the intake damper on the side of the drum, feeds the fire, then carries heat and smoke up past the heat deflector and cooking grate before leaving through the smokestack on the lid.

Opening the intake lets more air in and raises the temperature; closing it slows the fire down. The smokestack damper fine-tunes how fast smoke moves through the drum. Gaskets around the lid and an airtight body mean the dampers do the controlling rather than gaps and leaks, which is what keeps the temperature steady over a long cook. A lid-mounted gauge shows the temperature inside.

The cooking system is convective: hot air and smoke circulate around the food on all sides, rather than the food sitting beside the fire as it does in an offset.

On most drum smokers, adding charcoal mid-cook means lifting out the food, the grate and the deflector. The Bronco 2.0 has a fuel access door on the side of the drum, so you open it, add charcoal or wood to the basket and close it again with the food untouched and the lid shut.

A full basket holds up to about 3.6 kg of charcoal and wood for 14+ hours of smoking, which covers an overnight brisket or pork shoulder. The 15 kg of Nature Flame lump in this bundle works out to roughly four full basket loads, and more cooks than that when you only part-fill the basket for shorter smokes and grilling.

A removable ash pan and clean-out door make it straightforward to empty the ash between cooks.

The Bronco 2.0 switches between low-and-slow smoking and high-heat grilling. For smoking, the heat deflector sits between the fire and the food; for grilling, you cook over direct heat on the split porcelain-coated steel grates.

The included rib hanging kit, with 9 meat hooks and 3 hangers, lets you hang racks of ribs or larger cuts vertically down the drum. Hanging lets smoke reach every side of the meat and frees up the grate for other food. The kit stores on the smoker itself when you're not using it.

Dual side shelves give you somewhere to rest trays, rubs and tools, and built-in tool hangers plus a lifting multitool keep the handling gear within reach.

The main cooking grate is 42.8 × 42.8 cm (284 sq in). That fits one brisket, two whole chickens, or up to nine racks of ribs using the hanging kit, which is about right for a family cook or a small gathering.

Because it's a drum rather than an offset, the footprint is compact: about 110 cm wide and 68 cm deep when assembled. Steel-core rubber-tread wheels make it easy to roll across pavers, decking or grass.

The included cover is made for the Bronco drum smoker, including the 2.0, and fits whether or not the side shelves are attached. It's heavy-duty rip-stop material that resists water and fading, with built-in hook-and-loop straps that hold it in place when the wind picks up.

A painted steel smoker left uncovered collects rain, dust and leaf litter, and moisture sitting on the lid and around the fuel door is what starts rust over time. Covering it once it has cooled down after every cook is the simplest way to keep it in good shape. The cover does not fit the Bronco Pro.

This bundle suits you if you're buying your first smoker and want everything needed for the first few cooks in one order, or if you're stepping up from a kettle or gas BBQ and want a charcoal smoker that's easier to manage than an offset.

It also suits smaller backyards, patios and balconies with room for a compact cooker, and anyone who wants to hang ribs or sausages as well as cook on a grate. If you regularly cook for large crowds, a bigger offset or a gravity-fed smoker will give you more grate space.

Add smoking wood chunks, natural wood wool firelighters and a charcoal chimney starter and you have a complete setup. You can see the rest of the range in our Oklahoma Joe’s collection.

The Bronco 2.0 Drum Smoker & Grill carries a 2-year Oklahoma Joe’s warranty covering all parts, including the grates, lid and firebox.

You're welcome to come and see the Oklahoma Joe’s range at our Ingleburn showroom before you buy, and you can pick up from the showroom. Delivery is also available, with the cost calculated at checkout.