Now, if you care more about a strong history of quality and a solid community, definitely consider the BGE MiniMax.

What we ideally want is a thin blue smoke. This is a barely perceptible smoke. But trust me, if there is unburned wood in your Kamado on or within the hot coals, smoke is being generated and adding flavor, you can just barely see it. Then, as you get to within 25 °f, either close down the bottom vent by half, or the top vent further, depending on what style of cooking you are cooking (and explained more below.) Minimax and Joe Junior both have a set of felt gaskets — one on the lid and one on the body. This material is soft and flexible. Therefore, when the heavy lid presses down on it, the felt does a great job of sealing the grills tightly. There will be no air leaks in these two grills.This material makes them very heavy and a bit fragile, but it also retains and radiates heat with amazing efficiency — and that’s what makes a kamado so great. Overall, the cooking size of these two grills is perfect for 2 people. If you cook for more than that, you’d want to do it in batches. Fuel Miser This is a classic strategy used in standard charcoal grills. All you have to do is pile your charcoal in a pyramid shape and insert two or three fire starters. Just light the fire starters, and soon they will fire up the charcoal. The Akorn Jr is constructed from two sheets of 22-gauge steel. This double layer creates a heat insulator that is as efficient as ceramic. It’s also lighter and less expensive than ceramic, which brings the total cost down significantly. Better yet, it’s not fragile at all. If you happen to drop your Akorn Jr, it’s going to be fine.

The primary material used to make the two grills is ceramic. Though fragile, ceramic holds heat extremely well thanks to its superior ability to store thermal energy (vs steel).One thing we want to mention is that the Joe Jr’s cooking grate has a hinged opening. This lets you add coal or smoking wood if needed. But if you do longer cooks, the heat deflector will be in the way so the opening is useless in that situation. At 68 lbs, the Junior does feel a bit heavy for a single person, but it’s still manageable. The thermometer is front and center, showing temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. The lid and body are tightly sealed together by a solid felt gasket. The fire box, fire ring and fire grate fit snugly without any gap. The Kamado Joe Jr includes a handy ash tool that is for scraping off the ash at the bottom vent. Other than that, you don’t have to do much to maintain the grill. There is no need to season the stainless steel cooking grate. Maybe clean off the food bits after cooking. But that’s all.