When it comes to making cocktails at home, there are a lot of advantages. For starters, it’s a fun way to enjoy drinks with friends and family. Secondly, it saves us a lot of money that we may have otherwise spent at the nearest bar.
While making cocktails at home is fairly easy, if we want to take our mixology skills to the next level and impress our guests even more, we’re going to need the best equipment.
One piece of equipment often overlooked is a cocktail smoker. Essentially a smoking gun, designed to infuse drinks, a cocktail smoker is one of the easiest appliances you can buy to make your cocktails look the best they can possibly be.
Used for either a more impressive appearance or a beautifully smokey drink, today we want to show you the best smokers you can buy.
We’ve compiled a list of the 8 best cocktail smokers on the market now. We’ve even included a useful buyer’s guide to help you make your final decision.
Let’s not waste any more time, let’s get straight into the list!
OUR TOP PICK
We’ll kick this list off with an excellent budget-friendly cocktail maker that gets the job done. This no-nonsense smoking gun from TMKEFFC offers users a simple, yet effective experience that is 100% natural.
Providing professional-styled smoke for cocktails, meats, vegetables, and cheese, the beauty of this product is that it can be easily stored away or taken on your trip away with friends.
Featuring a stylish and, more importantly, durable stainless steel design, simply add wood chips, herbs, spices, dried flowers, or tea to the smoker. In a matter of minutes, you’ll be greeted by a delightfully authentic smoke.
Pros
- Variety of uses - This smoker can be used to make cocktails or give food a smoky flavor.
- Portable - You can take the TMKEFFC portable smoker on your vacation with friends and family.
- Affordable - This portable cocktail smoker is available at a great price.
Cons
- Battery-powered - You will have to replace the batteries in this smoker.
EDITORS CHOICE
Perfect for giving your whiskey and bourbon cocktails that lovely smokey flavor you love, the Gramercy cocktail smoker gives you everything you need in a conveniently sized, easy-to-use product.
Like the TMKEFFC portable smoker, you can also use this cocktail smoker to smoke meats. The thing we loved most about this smoker is how compact and simple it is to use.
Upon purchase, you receive an elegant handheld smoker and a kit with all the essentials. In the kit, you receive a smoking gun, wood chips, gauze, and a cleaning brush.
All of this comes in a neat storage bag to make the smoker more portable and vacation-ready.
Pros
- Professional look - This cocktail smoker looks wonderful.
- Great value for money - For its price, you’d do well to find a more impressive smoker.
- Everything included - Everything you need comes with your purchase.
Cons
- Needs four batteries - The smoker needs 4 batteries to operate. Other smokers only require two.
Also available at:
BEST VALUE
If you consider yourself a cocktail expert, maybe a more upmarket smoker will suit you better. If that’s the case, look no further than the cocktail smoking gun from Homia.
A more expensive model of cocktail smoker, this product delivers a professional smoking experience in the comfort of your own home.
Featuring a more unique standing design, this smoker has a simple one-button feature that lets you change the speed setting effortlessly to give you maximum performance.
Surprisingly though, it wasn’t this impressive performance that pleased us most.
Instead, we loved the accessories that come with this professional-looking smoker. The smoker comes with seven flavors of wood chip, a flexible hose, a cleaning brush, and 3 fantastic lids to use depending on the size of your cocktail.
Pros
- Feature-packed - This smoking gun comes packed with awesome features.
- Variety of flavors - With seven different flavors of wood chip, you can really experiment with your cocktails.
- Easy-to-use - Simply choose your speed setting and off you go.
Cons
- Pricey - This smoker will cost you.
Also available at:
RUNNER UP
While it may be one of the most expensive cocktail smoking guns on this list, the Breville smoking gun is also arguably the most reliable and efficient.
Coming with plenty of wood chips, replacement screens, a detachable stainless steel burning chamber, and an intuitive design, you can rely on this gun to meet all your home cocktail needs.
Arriving pre-assembled, Breville has ensured their smoker is lighter and easier to use than other products on the market to make our experience more enjoyable.
Cleaning the smoker is even easier as Breville has made disassembly possible without the need for tools.
Pros
- Easily cleaned - You can clean this cocktail gun without any tools.
- Reliable - With a solid design and included accessories, you can expect impressive and consistent results from the Breville smoking gun,
- Stylish - Breville’s smoking gun looks great.
Cons
- Expensive - This cocktail gun is pricey.
Also available at:
RUNNER UP
If you’re looking to start your mixology journey, why not take a look at the MITBAK Cocktail Smoking Gun? The MITBAK cocktail smoking kit comes with everything any beginner needs to enjoy making cocktails at home.
Whether it be to impress friends or simply try something new, the MITBAK smoking gun uses a variety of wood chips to produce thick, divine-smelling smoke in minutes.
In the box, you’ll find a compact, yet powerful smoking gun, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, wood chips, a detachable hose, and a domed cloche.
To make cleaning easier, you even receive a pair of tweezers to remove any leftover debris.
We were pleased with the speed performance of this smoker. With three speeds you can easily control the fan's output to suit your needs.
Pros
- Rechargeable - You don’t need to keep replacing batteries with this smoker.
- Easily cleaned - Using the tweezer you can easily remove any debris.
- Great for beginners - This kit gives you everything you need to get started.
Cons
- Not as exciting - While this smoker has great performance, in all honesty, it isn’t as exciting as other smokers on this list.
RUNNER UP
The next cocktail smoker on our list is designed with portability, affordability, and ease of use in mind. If you want a cheap, yet reliable option that can be easily packed away or stored in a kitchen cupboard, this could be the option for you.
Using natural wood chips, spices, and herbs, this smoker gives cocktails and foods an authentic smokey flavor and aroma in just 30 seconds.
Weighing less than 1 lb we get this efficient smoking capability in a compact, lightweight unit that can easily be taken on vacation.
Operating the smoker couldn’t be easier. Simply put the wood chips in the smoker, turn it on, and hold down the smoking button.
Pros
- No-nonsense - This smoker gets straight to the point.
- Compact - You can easily store this smoker away.
- Effective - Your cocktails will have a smoky aroma in just 30 seconds.
Cons
- Not many accessories - If you seek a feature-packed smoker with plenty of accessories you will need to look elsewhere.
RUNNER UP
Some cocktail smokers can be quite difficult to clean, reducing how effective the smoker is. With the EMBR cocktail smoker, those difficulties are eliminated.
This sleek cocktail smoker features a super convenient removable smoke barrel. This gives the user easier access to the smoker's infuser where sappy residue can build up.
Now we can prevent that build-up by giving the infuser a good clean out.
In terms of performance, this smoker is brilliant. It uses natural sources to give cocktails and foods a lovely authentic aroma in a matter of minutes. The smoker itself is powered by four lithium batteries.
Pros
- Built with cleaning in mind - Thanks to the removable smoke barrel, you can easily maintain the smoking gun.
- Versatile - Smoke cocktails, meats, cheeses, and vegetables with this smoking gun.
- Efficient - This smoker takes just minutes to produce thick smoke.
Cons
- No accessories included - You will have to buy any accessories you want separately.
RUNNER UP
If you really want to take your cocktail-making skills to the next level and have a big enough budget, take a serious look at the incredibly cool Velep Cocktail Smoking Box.
Instead of smoking your cocktail under a glass dome, Velep has given its customers the chance to encase the cocktail in an elegant pinewood box.
Aside from making the cocktail as aromatic as possible, this box provides that extra wow factor. Despite its size, the box is surprisingly lightweight.
Inside, you will find the smoking instrument, two stylish whiskey glasses, and a food tray for those times you don’t want to smoke your food outside.
If you want the ultimate cocktail experience, we can’t think of any better cocktail smokers than this one.
Pros
- Unique - This box gives you a one-of-a-king cocktail-making experience.
- Stronger flavors - Your cocktails will have a much more aromatic flavor.
- Smokes food too - You can even smoke some ribs in this smoker.
Cons
- Pricey - The box is expensive. However, we must say, we think it’s worth it.
Buyer’s Guide
Before making your purchase, there are a few things you need to consider. Here are some of those things.
Included Accessories
Cocktail smokers come with a variety of accessories. Some might not come with any, whilst others come with them in abundance. Before buying a smoker, you need to decide what accessories you need.
You might want to find a smoker that comes with a number of lids, a variety of wood chips, and maybe some glasses. If you need these things obviously look for a smoker that has them.
Alternatively, if you just require a smoker, save some money by avoiding any unnecessary accessories.
Power Source
It is also important to take the cocktail smokers' power source into account. Some smokers conveniently have USB cable ports or a plug. Others are only powered by batteries.
While battery-powered smokers might seem less practical, if you plan on taking your cocktail smoker on a weekend getaway, knowing you don’t need a specific power source is great. However, you will need to change the batteries every so often.
We recommend having a careful think about how you will use the smoker and which type of power source suits you best.
Size
Size is probably the most significant factor to consider. A lot of cocktail smokers come in the form of relatively small handheld devices that can be easily stored or transported.
On the other hand, some are a lot bigger, coming with extra accessories and equipment. While this might not be an issue if you're primarily using the smoker at home if you plan on taking it anywhere things could get awkward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Ingredients Produce The Best Smoke For Cocktails?
Most cocktails use wood chips which are available in a wide range of flavors. These flavors can be wonderfully authentic, but there are other options out there.
One great option is to use cinnamon. Cinnamon adds a little diversity to the flavor, giving drinks a subtle, warming smokey taste.
Which Cocktails Are The Best Smoked?
The most popular cocktails to smoke are those containing whiskey. Other cocktails that taste great smoked are an old-fashioned, a smoky martini, bloody Mary, and a Manhattan.
These cocktails all benefit from a little smoke. The smoke gives them all a new dimension.
While these cocktails are the most popular, personal preference also plays a part. Through experimentation, you might find a smoked cocktail you love whilst everyone else thinks it’s strange. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Are Cocktail Smokers Worth The Money?
If you’re a serious at-home bartender or simply love a cocktail evening with friends, we believe that cocktail smokers are definitely worth it.
They are great to have around the home and also make a quirky gift. Experimenting with flavors is a big part of making cocktails and a cocktail smoker lets you do just that.
Final Thoughts
That concludes our guide to the best cocktail smokers. Hopefully, we have opened your eyes to some fantastic options available on the market.
Owning a cocktail smoker is a great way to further your mixology skills or simply impress guests.
While the smokers on our list vary in size, shape, and features they come with, they all share one thing in common - that is they all give our cocktails a wonderful flavor and the wow factor when it comes to appearance.
Now you have our guide at your fingertips, take some time to take a closer look at each smoker. You should then be able to start narrowing down the options until you find the smoker that suits your needs and requirements best.
I want to share with you all of my favorites, as well as share advice on picking certain alcohols and flavors.
I hope you enjoy my articles as much as I enjoyed researching them!
- Why Are Some Alcohols Referred To As Spirits? - February 11, 2023
- The Healthy Benefits Of Drinking Cannonau Wine - January 31, 2023
- All Major Differences Between Prosecco And Moscato (And Which You Should Choose) - January 7, 2023
