My first introduction to pellet cooking was in 2003 while helping a brother-in-law with cooking for a wedding. He worked for Traeger at the time, and a couple of days later we left Mount Angel, Oregon with a Traeger in the pickup. Our meals haven't been the same since! That Traeger is still in use at some family property. For a few years, I regressed to cooking on a combination of a charcoal grill, a gas grill, and a Weber Smokey Mountain - but finally realized that I could replace all three with one pellet unit. So, I came back around and I'm now cooking on a Louisiana Grills CS-450 (while keeping a close eye on FEC and Yoder for a future upgrade).