I think that the choice of cooking fuel should be left to the person/team. The old time methods were new at one time and nobody wanted to change. These new $3500.00 + smokers will not cook any better than a hole in the ground. No matter what kind of smoker you use, the only way that you will get a good product is to learn how to cook on what you have. The type of fuel does not matter, pellets, charcoal, wood chips, saw dust, split hard wood, type does not matter, are all wood.
As a judge, the contents of the box is what is judged, Appearance, taste and tenderness is all that matters. I have built every type of smoker that there is and if i build several identical to each other, non of them will cook the same,I belong to several BBQ Assoc and this is an expensive hobby that is fun.
