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| Extra Large Primo Ceramic Charcoal Smoker Grill |
The Primo Oval JR falls in the category of ceramic grill/smoker. This group is inspired by the Japanese kamado grills. The most famous of these is probably the Big Green Egg. They provide a number of benefits:
1. Ability to maintain a wide range of temperatures, allowing low/slow smoking at 210 degrees to high temperature searing at 700+ degrees.
2. Efficient use of charcoal and wood, using less fuel than similarly sized traditional grills also allowing for longer cooks without having to add additional coals.
3. Heavy sides insulate and capture heat, allowing for stable temperatures and protecting from exterior winds and cold to keep consistent heat.
4. Contain moisture, which is great for keeping your meats tender and juicy.
There are downsides to ceramic grills too:
1. They are heavy and thus harder to move around
2. Being ceramic, they are fragile. From the forums, a large % break in shipping so its good to get one that is backed by a good manufacturer. The top ones, including Primo are known to stick behind their products.
3. They are expensive compared to traditional grills for the same cook area.
There are three things that differentiate the Primo in my mind (getting tired of lists yet? :) )
1. They are oval, which is very handy for cooking long things like a brisket, as well as cooking two different types of food on each side of the grill, including doing indirect cooking on one side and direct on the other.)
2. They have more accessories than many of the other manufacturers, including additional levels of racks, the indirect heating 'plates', etc. Just more ways to get better utility out of your grill.
3. They are made in the USA, which is nice both to support local manufacturing but also because I'm more and more skeptical about letting anything made in China touch my food these days.
Okay. That's enough lists for a bit. This review is specifically about the Primo Jr. I spent a good bit of time deciding between the JR and XL. The difference in cooking area is significant with the XL having 2x as much cooking area. That said, I can cook two full sized briskets on a JR, and can easily feed six people. In addition, I have a Masterbuilt electric smoker and you can find my review for that on Amazon at well (a great great tool for the price), so if I want to mix smoking and grilling can always just use the JR to grill while smoking on the Masterbuilt to extend my capacity. If you really want to cook for a crowd you're going to want to look at the XL. Otherwise I presume the review will match well.
Let me summarize the rest of this review thusly: This grill is awesome. Its easy to get the grill to the temperature you want and maintain it. At high temps you can sear and cook steaks in minutes. At medium temperatures you can do poultry and vegetables that are delicious and infused with that flavor you only get from real wood lump charcoal, while staying moist and tender. At low temps you've got a smoker that can keep up with pros for making bbq and will meet all your needs. Wow.
The fact is, all kamado style grills are going to have very similar properties, so it really comes down to the details. I very much like the oval shape of the Primo. It gives me a bit more flexibility. Will I need the oval shape every cook? No. But when I want to cook two different foods at the same time perhaps with racks at different heights or one indirect, I can. Or if I want to do a big brisket which would be awkward on a similarly sized circular kamado, I have no problem. If you're getting a kamado you're spending a premium of $$$ already. I don't want to spend that premium and then have to compromise on utility.
The big way the Masterbuilt spoiled me is the simple way you can add additional wood in the middle of a cook. This is the only real way I can mark the Primo down. If you're doing a 12 hour smoke and your lump has burnt down, you have a bit of a bother adding more wood. You're going to have this with a lot of grills, not just Primos. The mitigating factor is that fuel efficiency I mentioned that you get from ceramic grills. If you're cooking at low temperatures a single load of charcoal should easily take you 10+ hours. And after a cook, all you have to do is close the vents and any remaining lump can sit for your next cook.
Everything else is just practice, and gaskets can wear over time particularly if you do high temp cooks and don't take care of flares when opening the grill. But the gaskets are easy and cheap enough to replace.
Overall, if you're waffling like I was you're going to love it once you try one of these. You can't really go wrong with any of the kamado style grills. I think the next generation of grill to compete with them is the Big Steel Keg category grill which is an insulated steel variant of the kamado, which has many of the same benefits while being significantly lighter and more durable allowing them to be transported. One of those will likely be my next toy, particularly when they come down a couple hundred. For now though, if you want a ceramic style grill for your backyard you really can't do better than a Primo. The oval shape is unique and gives some clear advantages in many situations, their various accessories give even more flexibility and like I said, they are made in the USA without being any more expensive than their circular competitors.
The only downside I can say about any of these ceramic grills is the real premium you have to pay in $$$ over traditional lump grills, but I can't mark the Primo down a star for that as they aren't any more expensive than any of their competitors. In the end, I have to say its certainly worth what I paid and that's the final measure.