That's used for smoking, where you would have the fire and coals in the side box only. The heat and smoke cook indirectly. It's also useful for long-term grilling if you need to have hot coals for a long time. You can keep putting fresh materials in the box to make more coals to move into the grill. The owners' manual should give you some ideas to get you started.

Creating Your Own Barbeque Smoker To smoke foods yourself, you could use a bbq smoker box that is designed specifically for this purpose. However, all you really need is something to contain the smoke, a source of smoke, and something to smoke. In fact, you can transform your charcoal grill into a barbeque smoker very easily. Here's how to do it: Remove the cooking grate and build a fire on one side of the grill with charcoal, hardwood, etc. Airflow is very important when smoking so be sure the fire is on the side that any wind will blow against. Place a drip pan in the grill, opposite the fire, and replace the cooking grate. When your fuel source is hot, you are ready to add the meat. Place a water pan, about 2/3 full, directly over the fire to keep air inside the grill moist during the cooking process. Place your meat directly over the drip pan and a thermometer next to the meat. Shut the lid to keep the smoke inside. The ideal temperature for smoking is 200-250 degrees, so you will need to adjust the vents on your grill to achieve this. The airflow needs to come in under the fire and exit through a vent above the meat. The air needs to be drawn through the fire, over the water pan and over the meat. Keep an eye on the temperature and the fire as you will need to add more fuel periodically, but keep the lid closed as much as possible.

First off, Kat all the directions came with a book in English and one in Mexican, except the one regarding seasoning! The English version isn't here LOL Dee thanks so much, and I may need help along the way! I plan on starting the process tomorrow. I do have one question. It came with a wire holder for a grease catcher, but it doesn't come with the grease catcher LOL. Plus it doesn't tell me what to do with the wire holder either. My neighbor said I could buy the catcher at Lowes, but then what? LOL Seems like I need this attached before I start the seasoning to avoid grease all over the patio. No it didn't come with the side smoker box, but it's something I can add later. It did come with a cover though.

Here are videos showing the factory assembling components into Thermapens. I don't know if they have the facilities to manufacture any components. I assume all the other products they sell are all imported. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvP0GXD3fcI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gspPLB4B1KY And this is from their WEB site: "ThermoWorks ----------- While a few of our products are manufactured here, many are made for us by partner factories in Europe, Asia and the USA. Most of our in-house staff is engaged in marketing, technical support, product definition, design, and operations. -----------" Thermapen is a very good product. I have one. I also have one I bought on ebay 15 years ago for $2.00. It is still working fine. Slower, but same accuracy as Thermapen. Amazingly, the same one is still selling on ebay, but inflation! $2.78 now!!!! dcarch