#oklahomajoe
#oklahomajoes
I found this smoker used on Marketplace for 220 bucks. I thought I had found a normal Oklahoma Joe Highland with an older badge. What I found instead was a Oklahoma Joe Mystery.
The metal gauge was much thicker than the normal 2.5 mm that I was expecting.
The firebox is one piece and not bolted together with a top and lower half.
The size was much larger than a Oklahoma Joe Highland. This was the same size as my Texas Original Pit !
I could tell from the badge that it is not an Original Oklahoma Joe made in Oklahoma.
It is not a New Braunfels Oklahoma Joe. Those were made from 1998 to 2001. Those smokers had a NB prefix on the serial number on the badge. They were made with 3/16 gauge metal.
The metal gauge on this smoker is 5/32 very close to 9 gauge metal.
The cook chamber is 19x 41 inches with a 19 inch firebox.
So I have a mystery. The Longhorn was introduced to the market in 2004 with the two piece bolted together firebox.
This could be an early post China factory build but possibly assembled in the USA ? However, to my knowledge the Chinese manufactured units have a two piece firebox to lower the shipping cost. They ship the firebox in two pieces inside the cook chamber. There is no way to do that with this fully welded firebox.
Looking at the generations of Oklahoma Joe you have the following generations of Joe’s:
Original Oklahoma Joe - made in Oklahoma ( generation one) 1987-1998
New Braunsfel Oklahoma Joe - made in New Braunsfel Texas (generation two)1998-2001
China Made Oklahoma Joe made from 2001 to present.
So based on that I am thinking this is one of the very first Longhorns from sometime between 2001-2004
What are your thoughts on the mystery? If you have any insights please leave a comment below
