My general thoughts on the Clermont match the phase ‘two steps forward, one step back’. Hence, there is some progress here, however, its not where it needs to be on price/features. Always wash hands thoroughly with soap and hot water prior to handling food and after handling raw meat, uncooked poultry or seafood. It cycles the air within approximately 1,000 square feet twice every hour and within 500 square feet four times every hour. Or, for your kitchen or smaller areas, take a look at the PuRXium Medium Room / Countertop Air Purifier.
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.
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.
Back in 2007 when I first become aware of pellet grills and smokers the only brand I was really aware of was Traeger. Traeger is really where this whole concept of cooking with pellets started in the 1980s. It was a ‘slow burner’ but since the 2010s is really when pellet grills and smokers started to get mainstream awareness, discussed alongside gas and charcoal grills. There are now over 30 pellet grill/smoker brands that I’m aware of, and the link above goes to my A to Z list of brands article. Protect your Clermont Smoker from the elements with the Cuisinart Clermont Pellet Grill & Smoker Cover!
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.
The Cuisinart Woodcreek & Twin Oaks only feature Bluetooth and not WiFi. As I discuss in my article on WiFi pellet grills/smokers, Bluetooth connectivity is not as useful as WiFi. This is where the Cuisinart Clermont actually has a one-up over the Pit Boss Lockhart which only currently features Bluetooth connectivity. However, the Pit Boss Lockhart does feature a PID temperature controller, where it doesn’t appear that’s the case on the Cuisinart Clermont.
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 CGWM-081 Clermont Pellet Grill & Smoker Cover 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.
Finally, I discuss the new kid on the block, charcoal pellets and their special attributes compared to all other hardwood BBQ pellets. If you’re not sure what a PID control panel is, and importantly, why you want one, my article linked above explains more. Put simply, a PID control panel can regulate the temperature cuisinart pots and pans set inside the pellet grill/smoker much more precisely. This means two things, first, you get a better cook, but you also don’t waste pellets heating the grill to unnecessarily high temperatures. The missing PID functionality of the Cuisinart Clermont I do think is not great on a pellet grill/smoker for this price.