ProQ Frontier Review & First cook.

Assembly & Construction:
This this has a whole lot of nuts and bolts, but it goes together logically in about the time it takes to drink 2 beers. There is a definite lightweight feeling to this bbq compared to my WSM (weber smokey mountain). My wsm took a bit less time to assemble. The firepan in the bottom just float in there and does not have any way to fasten it in any way, the wsm has bolts that the firepan rest on so it sits level. I'm not sure if my extra "stacker" was a bit damaged in shipping, but it was a bit warped and would pop out of the bbq assembly unless it was fastened with clips, and there was little hope of getting the lid on tthe stacker module, so i had to put it in the middle section. I really like the idea of the doors on every level, but I dont think this is well executed as even with 3 doors it's inpossible to fill the water pan through them, and if you have your waterpan in the bottom of the bbq, and cant use the door to add more charcoal.

First cook:
I did some miami ribs on the top and some regular "brontosaurus" beef ribs in the bottom. I filled the Charcoal pan 1/2 way with already lit Royal Oak Briquettes, and 1/2 with lit Cowboy lump charcoal, as i was hoping to get my temperature closer to 250 than to 200, it's was a week night, and i didnt want to eat at 1am, i wanted to eat at 10pm and i started the smoker before 5pm. I filled the waterpan 1/3 of the way, and added some lemons and dried rosemary to the water. Vent was set all the way open.

the temperature rose quickly to 180, but then took 25 minutes to get up to 225, and did not go any higher. when i went to add some hardwood for smoke at the 45 minute mark, i realized that it was impossible to get to the fire as the water pan is too deep it did not allow room for me to get a hand between the water pan and the fire. I put on my fireplace gloves and took apart the smoker and re-configured the smoker with the water pan 1 stack unit higher , ok good now i can get to the fire through the door to add more charcoal and hardwood / dust for flavor as needed. My temperature fell to 205 after moving the waterpan up, never to go any higher, lots of burn on the charcoal in the firepan. at the 3 hour mark, i decided to open the little door , well the door handle came apart in my hands... now i've not no way to close the door.. drag. Fireplace gloves and take the Q apart again.. now i'm down from 3 stackers to 2, and i've had to move my meat and it's gotten all cold from the move... hope i get to eat before 11!.

10 oclock rolls around, and the meat is still sitting at 105 f.... i got hungry and moved 1/2 the ribs on to the gas grill