Camp Chef Woodwind Pro – My Long Term Review

Camp Chef Woodwind Pro Review

A pellet grill is a great way for people to learn how to smoke barbecue at home. It is easy to use and lets you focus on flavors and monitoring the meat, not the fire. That’s a big reason why I love them. But pellet grills do have their drawbacks. They can’t compete with the smoke flavor of a traditional offset smoker.

Or can they? That’s what the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro is made to do. It takes one of my favorite pellet grills, the Camp Chef Woodwind, and adds the Smoke Box. This new feature allows you to burn wood chunks above the firepot to create even more smoke flavor.

So does this new feature deliver? Does the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro deliver more smoke flavor than most pellet grills? I have been using this grill for months, so read on and find out.

Camp Chef Overview

Camp Chef began manufacturing outdoor cooking equipment in 1990. You can still purchase their camping stoves, propane burners, and cooking pots today. However, the company has branched out into pellet grills and flat-top grills, like the new Gridiron, which came out in May 2024.

Assembling The Camp Chef Woodwind Pro

Assembly of the Woodwind Pro was fairly straightforward. It took me a couple of hours to complete, but I am notoriously slow when it comes to assembly and reading instructions. The grill was well-packed and protected during shipping. It’s a great feeling when you are finished, and you can wheel that brand-new shiny grill off to the patio to start your first smoke.

Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 24″ Model Specifications

Lower Rack:	429 Sq Inches
Upper Rack:	382 Sq Inches
Total Rack Area:	811 SQ Inches
Hopper Size:	22 LBS
Weight:	152 LBS
Width:	50 Inches
Height:	44.5 Inches
Depth:	26 Inches
Side Shelf:	12″ Wide x 3″ Tall x 16″ Deep

Camp Chef Woodwind Pro Smoking Performance

All the product specs are great, but we are truly concerned about the question: Is the Woodwind Pro a great smoker?

True Wood Smoke Flavor In A Pellet Grill

The newly added Smoke Box is a game-changer for pellet smokers. I personally love the convenience of pellet grills, but that ease of use comes at a cost. Meat smoked using pellet slacks the flavor of food smoked on offset smokers.

So Camp Chef developed the Woodwind Pro with the Smoke Box. The Smoke Box sits above the firebox and allows you to put wood chunks, charcoal, or wood chips inside to catch fire and create more smoke flavor. It’s easy to use: pull the handle on the front of the pellet grill, load the box with your preferred fuel, slide it back in, and open the butterfly valve until it begins to smoke.

You can use the Smoke Box as much or as little as you want. The Woodwind Pro will still continue to run on pellets throughout the cook and adjust temperatures as needed to ensure the perfect cook.

The Smoke Box isn’t the only innovation for smoking on the Woodwind Pro. The Woodwind Grill no longer has the smokestack. Instead, Camp Chef opted for two rear adjustable dampers to help promote down-and-out ventilation. The cooking chamber is also sealed with a gasket to help trap all that heat and smoke inside.

Cold Smoking Thanks To Fan Only Mode

Camp Chef created a new opportunity by adding the Smoke Box to the pellet grill. The Smoke Box allows users to cold smoke when coupled with the computer-controlled fan. This process allows you to add smoke flavor to more delicate food like fish. You can also cold-smoke cheese to add a nice smoky flavor to sandwiches or even for snacking.

All you need to do is start your wood chunks smoldering in the Smoke Box and set the controller to Fan Mode. You also want to open the rear vents fully so you aren’t trapping heat inside the cooking chamber.

Wi-Fi Control And Smoke Number

The Woodwind Pro boasts Wi-Fi connectivity for easy monitoring and adjustment. The Camp Chef Connect App lets you see the temperature in the cooking chamber in real time and set the target temperature.

Alongside that control, Camp Chef still has the Smoke Number feature. This does cause the internal temperature to vary a bit more than normal because it causes the wood pellets to burn less efficiently. It produces more smoke flavor without having to use the Smoke Box. I will use the Smoke Box the most, but if I’m out of extra wood, it certainly helps boost the flavor. And as an aside, the temperature fluctuations are not major, either. I’ve never seen anything even as big as a 20-degree swing with the Smoke Number cranked up to 10.

Camp Chef Sidekick Performance

The Woodwind Pro is a fantastic smoker, but the Sidekick attachment makes this Camp Chef pellet grill truly versatile. At 30,000 BTUs, the burner at the heart of the Sidekick could be mistaken for a jet engine. If you have it cranked up to high, it’s going to be quite loud. That power allows you to boil water extremely quickly if you’re preparing a side of corn on the cob.

The Sidekick can come with an optional flat-top griddle, which is perfect for getting a beautiful sear on thick steaks smoked on the pellet side. If you prefer grill marks on your burgers or steaks, you can get the Sear Box as well. It comes with cast iron grill grates to help you get the perfect grill marks.

But my favorite attachment? The Pizza Oven.

Camp Chef Pizza Oven

There is something special about making pizza at home. The Pizza Oven attachment boasts a ceramic stone that is perfect for even heating, so you get a crispy crust every time. You can take the oven over 600°F to have beautiful homemade pizza in several minutes. It takes a bit of practice to determine what temperature works for your pizza dough. I found that around 550 degrees works best, and the pizza usually takes 5-7 minutes to cook with the front cover closed. I rotate the pizza a couple of times to get the crust evenly cooked. Take a look at my homemade pizza sauce recipe.

Overall Fit And Finish

The Woodwind Pro has a black powder-coated lid, hopper, legs, and bottom shelf. The rest of the cooking chamber is made from stainless steel. I also like that the pellet hopper has a long window so I can track the level of pellets without constantly opening the lid to check. It also has a bottle opener mounted on the front of the grill, like all the past Camp Chef products.

Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 24′ With Sidekick Features

There is no question that the Smoke Box is the biggest feature of the Woodwind Pro. But it’s not the only feature that makes this a quality pellet grill. The fit and finish, plus all the Sidekick attachments, make this a great pellet grill for most people.

The Smoke Box

While it’s far from the only quality feature, it’s the newest and biggest. Whether you’ve got the 24″ like myself or the larger 36″ model, the Smoke Box allows you to fill the entire cooking chamber with more wood smoke flavor than ever. It’s simple to use and has such a big impact on the quality of smoke flavor of whatever you’re smoking.

It also pairs nicely with the fan-only mode on the digital controller, so we can cold smoke more easily than ever.

Wi-Fi Connectivity And Camp Chef Connect App

The app is simple and easy to use. You can monitor the temperature of the smoker and up to four connected probes at the same time. It’s quite nice to be able to monitor all of those temperatures and control the pellet grill’s settings all in one app. You can see all of the grill temp plus all the probe temperatures on one screen.

I’m used to having one app open for my pellet grill and another open for my wireless meat thermometers. But it is super convenient to have all that information in one spot.

Ownership Experience

I have used this pellet grill on dozens of cooks over several months. Overall, I am super happy with the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro pellet grill. I keep the grill covered in my outside patio area, and it has handled the elements without any issues. I have cleaned it a couple of times now. It’s fast and easy to clean. I remove the racks and the drip plate and clean them in a large tub with some oven cleaner. Then I use my shop vac and vacuum out all the ashes out of the bottom of the grill. The stainless steel has a nice patina now that you can only get from hours of heat and smoke.

Do I Recommend It?

Absolutely! I have recommended this Camp Chef Woodwind Pro to many people. This grill’s versatility, with all the sidekick attachments, makes it a great grill for almost anyone. I personally love the pizza oven attachment and the sidekick griddle attachment. Plus, the smoke box allows for the added kick of smoke for people who want more control over their smoke levels.