Weber Smoque Review: What Weber Removed, and Whether You'll Miss It

The Smoque is best understood as a Searwood with things taken out.

Same cooking chamber. Same controller. Same Weber Connect app. Weber then stripped out a few components, dropped the price by a few hundred dollars, and shipped it. So this Weber Smoque review is really about one question: are the missing parts ones you'd actually use?

The Numbers

Both carry a 5-year limited warranty on the cook box and components, with 3 years on electrical parts, and both hold a 4.7 out of 5 rating from 216 reviews on Weber's site. Hopper capacity is 22 lbs, good for several hours of cooking.

What Weber Kept

1. Rapid React. A PID controller that heats the grill in 15 minutes or less and recovers fast when you open the lid.
2. SmoqueVent. Circulates smoke through the chamber for flavour and browning.
3. SmokeBoost. A low-temperature mode for heavier smoke early in a cook.
4. Weber Connect. Remote monitoring, alerts, timers, guided recipes, and two food probes included with two probe ports.

That's the important half of the machine intact. The temperature control is the same hardware doing the same job as it does on the pricier grill.

What Weber Removed

Direct-flame searing, and yes this matters

The Searwood can drop the diffuser and hit meat with actual flame. The Smoque cannot. It tops out at 500°F, which is respectable for a pellet grill and nowhere near steakhouse territory.

This is the single most important line in this review. If you want one grill that smokes a brisket on Sunday and sears ribeyes on Tuesday, this is not it. Buy the Searwood.

Flavorizer bars

Replaced with a vented grease sheet. Testing found airflow actually improved as a result, so this one is a change rather than a loss.

A proper display

The controller is a single knob with an LCD showing one statistic at a time. Engadget's reviewer found it limiting, and also flagged that SmokeBoost is locked at 180°F, there's no pellet level monitoring, and there's no manual mode at all.

No fuel gauge is the one that will bite you. Check the hopper before a long cook, because the grill won't warn you.

Storage and trim

No built-in storage unless you buy add-ons. The wheels are plastic, and one reviewer called them flimsy. Neither ruins the grill. Both remind you which model you bought.

How It Actually Cooks

Well. By both independent accounts, genuinely well.

Engadget scored it 83 out of 100, praising reliable temperature consistency, preheating in under 15 minutes, and excellent smoke flavour, with ribs and pulled pork called out specifically. Smoked BBQ Source, testing separately, described excellent temperature consistency and steady low-and-slow performance, and summarised the whole machine as roughly 90% of the Searwood for meaningfully less money.

Two reviewers. Two setups. Same conclusion.

The smoking isn't compromised. Only the searing is. That's a useful thing to know before you read another Weber Smoque review that treats the price gap as a quality gap, because it isn't one.

Practical Notes for the First Cook

A few things worth knowing before day one, drawn from the specs rather than the marketing.

1. Probes. Two are included, and there are two ports. Use them. On a pellet grill the grate temperature and the meat temperature tell you very different stories, and the app only helps if it has data to show you.
2. Preheat. Fifteen minutes or less. That's quick enough that you can light it after you've trimmed the meat rather than before.
3. Hopper. Fill it before a brisket, not during. There's no gauge, and running dry at hour seven is a miserable way to learn that.
4. Placement. 102 lbs on plastic wheels. Pick its spot carefully and think about a cover, because this isn't a grill you'll be dragging into the garage each week.

The SmokeFire Shadow

Some context worth having if you're new to Weber's pellet story.

Weber's first pellet grill, the SmokeFire, went badly enough that it damaged the brand's credibility in a category where Traeger already had a substantial head start, and enough owners were burned by it that a decent number of buyers still hesitate before putting a Weber pellet grill in the cart at all.

The Searwood was the correction. It landed well. The Smoque is Weber taking that recovered reputation and extending it downmarket, which is a confident move rather than a desperate one.

The fair read in 2026: Weber fixed what went wrong. That history is a reason to read reviews, not a reason to avoid the brand.

Who Should Buy It

Buy the Smoque if smoking is the point. Ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, chicken, long low-and-slow cooks where consistency beats peak heat. At $699 the value is strong and the Smoque XL at $899 makes sense if you regularly cook for a crowd.

Skip it if you own no other grill. Without searing capability you'll want a kettle or a gas grill alongside it, and at that point the Searwood's higher price starts looking reasonable.

Final Verdict

Weber removed the right things. The temperature control that makes a pellet grill worth owning survived intact, and what went missing was searing power, screen real estate and trim. If you're buying a dedicated smoker, this is one of the better ones under $700. If you're buying your only grill, spend more or buy something else.

FAQs

What is the Weber Smoque price?

$699 for the standard model, reduced from $799, and $899 for the Smoque XL, down from $999, at the time of writing.

Can the Weber Smoque sear steaks?

Not really. It maxes out at 500°F with no direct-flame option. For searing you want the Searwood.

How big is the Smoque XL?

918 square inches total, with 595 on the primary grate. It's 50.75 inches wide with the lid closed and weighs 110 lbs.

Does it tell you when pellets run low?

No. There's no fuel level monitoring, so check the 22 lb hopper yourself before any long cook.

Is the Smoque better than the Searwood?

Cheaper, not better. You get around 90% of the performance and lose direct-flame searing.