Panini,
You're an interesting guy with a big storehouse of knowledge, but... Talk about buying the BS.
The word "barbecue" was almost certainly derived from a Taino word. So, you kinda sorta got a little bit of truth with that. I'm not sure where the Kentucky connection comes in, as for the rest... not so much. Just think about it and it's intuitively obvious that if grilling and/or smoking were "invented" in North America, those methods were independently discovered by the Africans, Asians and Europeans -- since they (we, really) were doing those things since deep pre-prehistory.
Do you think the ancients never cooked a piece of meat in a wood fired, indirect heat oven? Do you think the Huns needed Columbus to teach them smoke sausage? Do you think no one ever cued and pulled a pork shoulder until the English populated the Carolinas? Sorry, but great uncle Billy Bob wasn't the first -- no matter what he says.
I'm not saying that the southern American style of barbecue hasn't become the dominant style in the U.S., nor even saying that it doesn't form the basis of most of what I 'cue and how I usually go about it when doing low and slow smoking. But there are other, just as wonderful ways. I grew up in a couple of California's central coastal valleys, and let me tell you that what we did there was darn sure barbecue even if it didn't look a lot like KCBS.
You're over-generalizing form your own experience I think, and what you said about "Mexican Eateries" bears that out. If "Mexican" food went north from Texas it also did from the rest of the border and Gadsden states -- California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. In California we have two major, authentic styles (although you seldom see them distinguished) actual, regional Mexican and "Californio." And I know all the other states which had been part of Mexico have something along the same lines.
The point being that much as Mexican food did not originate in Texas nor even play the dominant role in it becoming national, so with the roots of barbecue.
Moving right along...
The "Chubby" is the junior version of a "Fatboy." If you do a lot of entertaining the Chubby is kind of small. The Fatboy isn't all that big either. It sems like whichever BWS model you're talking about, you're talking about a very tight, easy to control, cooker. There have been more than a few guys who've tried to adapt the water pan to sand -- like a lot of folks do with WSMs -- but it doesn't seem to have netted any really impressive results; on top of that, even though dealing with the sludge that gets in the pan is not the most pleasant task, it's a lot better than clean up would be if there were nothing or anything else down there; and the cherry on top is that it helps stabilize the temp by acting as a ballast.
I've only done five cooks on mine so far, and am nowhere near ready to review it yet in any considered sort of way, but I think you could do a LOT worse. One of those things which is "very expensive for what it is, but still a bargain." If you're going to buy one, order way early. There's a lot of lead time, especially if you want any custom mods.
I'm still trying to figure out the best fuels for mine. I've tried commercial grade mesquite lump charcoal and some very high end briquettes (Lazzari) for heat. The briquette got the pit up to cooking temp much faster, and overall was a very pleasant surprise -- but too expensive. The mesquite I get (from CalChar) has lots of lumps too big for the Fatboy's fire pan. That not only means picking through my charcoal bin, but that I can't pack the firebox as evenly as I like. At the end of the day, I think I'll end up using one of the better mesquite lumps like Lazzari Mesquite, but haven't got there yet.
For smoke, I've been using some old pecan chunk but it's kind of dry and not doing the best job in the world. Just that little bit acrid, if you know what I mean. But while it's easy to get fireplace log size hardwood here, it's hard to get good chunk and splits. They tend to not only be expensive (drag), but also dried out (major drag) to stay "stabilized" in their plastic-bag packaging. I suppose I could get a chain saw and set up a little station out back, but laziness got to me and I ordered 50 lbs each of oak and pear splits from Fruita. How bad can it be? If I can find some good maple at a reasonable price, another fifty pounds should take me all the way through the fall.
FWIW, I usually cold smoke over oak and/or cherry -- but that's a different rig.
BDL
PS. If I seem prickly I apologize.
