However, the Cuisinart Clermont is not the first pellet grill/smoker to follow this design, as you can see from the image below the Pit Boss Lockhart has a very similar design. Pellets can hang up in the pellet hopper after cooking for a long period of time. It’s important to monitor the pellet level and mix the pellets by hand to ensure they flow into the auger. A pellet grill/smoker is only as good as the BBQ pellets you put into it. The type/quality of the BBQ wood pellets you use will impact temperature performance and smoke flavour. There are many pellet flavours including Apple, Hickory, Mapel, Oak and Walnut to name but a few.
’ Well, the thing is, if you were using the pellet grill constantly every day, sure, the larger the hopper the better. This is a residential grade product that will likely be used at weekends etc. If the pellets start to absorb moisture from the air, you’ve potentially got problems. Hence, in most cases filling a 40lb hopper means if you want to keep the cuisinart pots and pans set pellets in a good condition you are going to be emptying it pretty frequently. I’ve previously done a Pit Boss vs Cuisinart comparison article where I reference that Pit Boss also doesn’t state the main grate size on the Lockhart. From the look of the two grills, I actually think the main cooking grate on both products is probably very similar in size.
So the previous pellet grills/smokers from Cuisinart the Woodcreek & Twin Oaks featured a 30lb pellet hopper. Well, now the Clermont comes with a 40lb pellet CGWM-081 Clermont Pellet Grill & Smoker Cover hopper with a pellet sensor to boot. A 30lb hopper is well above the industry average, but a 40lb hopper is really far larger than you actually need.
They do have some units which are basically identical to several Z Grills models. However, it was the introduction of the Woodcreek and Twin Oaks which were the two first unique Cuisinart pellet grill/smoker offerings. And for their price as you can check out in my article above, I actually think they are pretty impressive. Hence, with the Clermont coming in at just under $800, I’m not sure it offers that much more over the Woodcreek. Furthermore, at $800 the Clermont is also in direct competition with another Walmart exclusive, the Pit Boss Lockhart. “LOW PELLET” will illuminate on the controller and it will start beeping once the pellets are below the sensor.
However, some brands are hardwood blended pellets whereas others are 100% single wood species. As the Clermont has only just been released there aren’t any customer review videos I can add into the article. Right, I don’t think its a ‘bad’ product, I just don’t think its worth just under $800. At that price, as an overall package, the Pit Boss Lockhart offers pretty much the same package and more for under $750. Once the Clermont is on sale for below the price of the Lockhart, that could make it more appealing as direct competition.
Going ‘low and slow’ and high-temperature grilling are two very different things. Its basically a cross between a horizontal/vertical smoker with an upright cooking cabinet with two french doors. There is a benefit to this approach over say a typical horizontal pellet grill in that you can watch the cook through the doors.
However, in the case of the Cuisinart Clermont 1-2 lbs per hour is more realistic. So let’s presume the worst-case scenario and say it will consume 2lbs per hour when smoking. Cuisinart has recently released a new pellet grill/smoker into their range, the Clermont. As with their previous offerings the Woodcreek & Twin Oaks, Cuisinart are selling this pellet grill/smoker exclusively through Walmart. As I’ll discuss below the Clermont does have some advantages over the Woodcreek, however, its also currently priced quite a bit higher. I also think the Clermont has some missed opportunities in terms of features.
Register your Cuisinart products today to receive new product information, recipes and exclusive offers. No one should be leaving their pellet smoker unattended for 20 hours even with WiFi functionality, more on that below. First off, there are very few cuts of meat which would require a 20 hour+ cook time. Furthermore, even if they did, without attending the meat over that period of time there is a chance the pellet smoke could dry out the meat. So in general, most pellet cookers will use between 1-2 lbs per hour when smoking. With insulated pellet cookers such as the Kamado Joe Pellet Joe, pellet consumption while smoking could actually be under 1lb per hour.