The 130P McLemore Signature Series is an interesting product that stands out in comparison to all other Masterbuilt electric smokers. Let’s take a look at this beauty and see if it is the right smoker for you.
What is the McLemore Signature Series?
McLemore is the family name that started the Masterbuilt brand. The McLemore Signature Series of smokers are marketed as products that are so good teh McLemore family puts their signature on them. However, until the introduction of the 130P, the McLemore Signature Series was simply a marketing ploy designed to stop comparison shopping at the Big Box stores.
The only place you can buy a McLemore Signature Series is at Lowes. Home Depot sells the exact same products but they are branded as the Pro Series. The Pro Series and McLemore Series were the exact same electric smokers but just had different branding.
The 130P is a unique smoker and I have not seen an equivalent model in the Pro Series at Home Depot.
What makes the 130P is that it has a top mounted broiler for crisping up the skin on smoked chicken or getting a crusty sear on a smoked meatloaf.
What Else Does This Smoker Have?
The 130P is the only electric smoker I have seen that has a broiler. I haven’t been able to find any owners yet to ask them how the broiler functions but the design is simple enough and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t work great.
The smoker is Bluetooth enabled so you can adjust the temperature from your phone. The smoker also has a built in digital meat thermometer so you can track the progress of your cook via the app.
This means you could set up the cooker to slow smoke a ribeye roast at 225F until it hits an internal temperature of 125F. You could then fire up the broiler and sear it until you have the perfect crust. That would be awesome!
The smoker comes with four cooking racks and has the patented side loading wood chip tray that lets you add more smoking wood without opening the front door and letting all of the heat out.
Here is a short promotional video that lets you see the features of this smoker in action.
Is This the Right Smoker For You?
Overall the 130P is a great smoker. The version of this smoker that does not have the broiler is a huge seller and people love them. Adding the broiler only makes a great smoker even better.
But…..
There are two things to be aware of before you pull the trigger on the 130P.
(1) Like all 30 inch Masterbuilt electric smokers, the 130P is a little undersized. The smoker has plenty of space for when you are cooking pork butts or whole chickens. It is the prefect size for smoking summer sausage or making jerky. The smoker is going to get really cramped as soon as you try smoking a slab of spare ribs. The smoker is going to look tiny the second you try to smoke a 15 pound brisket.
(2) There is something much better coming from Masterbuilt in 2019. Masterbuilt is getting ready to release an electric smoker that has the same broiler as the 130P, has much larger capacity and comes with some awesome features. You might kick yourself if you buy the 130P now and learn about the new product later. Here is a link to what I know about the new smoker.
Here are some Amazon links to some of the other Masterbuilt electric smokers so you can do a little comparison shopping. These are all great smokers but do not come with a broiler.
