The Weber Smokey Mountain 18 carries a 9.1 ClearPick score, but the seven owner mentions in ClearPick's data are more split than that headline number suggests -- two are unambiguously positive, two are unambiguously negative, and three read as genuine tradeoff discussions rather than praise or complaint. The recurring thread across nearly every mention isn't about whether the WSM smokes well; it's about size. Owners who kept the 18-inch model defend its lower charcoal cost and smaller footprint, while owners who moved up to the 22-inch say the extra grate space solved a recurring headache. This is a thin sample -- not enough to call a consensus -- but it's a pointed one, and it's worth reading before deciding which size to buy.
What owners actually get
On ClearPick's subscores, the WSM 18 rates highest on charcoal smoke flavor (9.5/10) and build quality (9.5/10), with temperature stability (9/10) and ease of use (9/10) close behind. Capacity is the one category that pulls the average down, at 8.5/10 -- and it's the subscore the owner mentions back up most directly. One owner with 13-plus years on an 18-inch unit said it 'can make a lot of food' and described adding aftermarket racks with stainless wingnuts, washers, and carriage bolts to stretch capacity for bigger cooks, pointing other cooks toward virtualweberbullet.com as a reference for the mod. Another owner, weighing the WSM against a similarly priced Oklahoma Joe Bronco, argued that at roughly $200 for a used WSM, a pricier competitor 'doesn't really make sense' because the food 'won't taste $200 better' -- a vote for the WSM's value relative to other charcoal smokers, not just pellet grills. The pack's product description backs this up structurally: two cooking grates give 481 sq in of total space, with a built-in water pan that acts as a heat sink to steady temperature during long cooks. Owners in the mentions treat that water pan and the two-tier grate layout as the reason the WSM stays manageable once you've got a few cooks under your belt, even though nobody in this sample called it effortless.
The complaint pattern
The clearest complaint in the pack isn't about smoke or heat control -- it's size regret. One owner who has used both an 18 and a 22-inch WSM said plainly, 'I got rid of the 18,' and steered other buyers toward the larger model. That's a direct, first-person verdict from someone with side-by-side experience, and it's the strongest negative signal in the sample. The second clear negative is a one-off durability question: an owner using a secondhand unit ran a single long overnight cook and found unexplained thinning in the metal the next day -- visible light coming through where it shouldn't -- with no rust present and no resolution offered in the thread. It reads as an isolated incident rather than a pattern, but it's unresolved in the data ClearPick has. The remaining three mentions in the pack are genuinely mixed rather than negative: owners debate whether the 18's lower charcoal use and smaller storage footprint outweigh the 22's extra room, whether ribs and a full packer brisket actually fit on the 18 without workarounds (the consensus leans yes, with a wood chunk wedged under the brisket if needed), and whether the fuel-efficiency case for the 18 still holds once you've added lid and door gaskets to a 22. None of the seven mentions in this pack raise the classic charcoal-smoker complaints -- fire management, cold-weather performance, or a loose access door -- that show up elsewhere in the WSM's owner-review history; this particular sample is narrowly about size.
Who It’s For
What owners actually say
What buyers love
“I have an 18 and can make a lot of food. There are creative ways to add additional racks using wingnuts, washers and carriage bolts (make sure stainless steel only). If you are only cooking primary for 2 and only sometimes more ppl then an 18 is where you want to be.”
r/BBQ
“If you can get a WSM for $200, Bronco doesn't really make sense at $450. Your food won't taste $200 better. They are very similar products really.”
r/OklahomaJoe
Common complaints
Regretted going with the 18
Don't get the 18 get the 22. I have a kettle and at one point both the larger wsms. I got rid of the 18.
r/webergrillsUnexplained damage on a secondhand unit
I set it up in the dark and ran a long overnight cook with temps running higher than anticipated. Here we are a few days later and I'm setting it up in daylight and I noticed a little more daylight than I should! Doesn't look like there's any rust anywhere around it, what could have happened here and how can I try to fix it?
r/smokingThe Weber Smokey Mountain 18 earns its 9.1 ClearPick score on smoke flavor, build quality, and temperature stability -- categories where the subscores and the pack's mentions agree. Where they don't fully agree is capacity: the mentions ClearPick has collected skew toward a size debate, not a smoke-quality debate, and one experienced dual-owner's blunt 'I got rid of the 18' is a real data point against the smaller model for buyers who might grow into bigger cooks. Buyers who are consistently smoking for 2-6 people, or who are open to aftermarket rack mods, should read the positive and mixed mentions as confirmation the 18 holds up. Buyers who expect to feed larger groups, host multi-protein cooks, or want headroom without mods should weight the negative mention more heavily and consider the 22-inch model instead -- a comparison this seven-mention sample can't fully settle on its own.