Super Aladin Smoker and Aromatizer
The Super Aladin smoker is a heavy duty hand held food smoker that is great for commercial use in molecular gastronomy. It is constructed with strong metal parts and it disassembles for easy cleaning. The dual chamber allows you to aromatize the wood smoke with your favorite herbs or spices by heating them gently without burning them. At $300 it is a little overpriced for home use but it may be worth the investment for a molecular gastronomy restaurant or bar that plans to use it daily.
You can now get the Super Aladin smoker in our store here.
What’s Included
- Metallic motor base: holds the motor, metallic propeller and batteries (4 x AA batteries not included)
- 1 plastic base to stand the smoker upright.
- 2 metallic chambers, one for wood chips and the other one for the aromatizing ingredient.
- 6 metallic screens. 3 large ones for the wood chip chamber and 3 smaller ones for the aromatizing chamber.
- 1 extension tube.
- 1 extension hose.
How the Super Aladin Smoker Works
The Super Aladin smoker has two chambers. The larger chamber on the top is the combustion chamber and is the one you fill with sawdust. The second inferior chamber allows the separation of the sawdust from the aromatics. Thanks to this clever design, the heat produced by the combustion chamber heats the inferior chamber with control and helps to release the aromatic substances without burning them.
The delicate aromas from natural essential oils of herbs, spices and flowers can be obtained directly from the ingredient, grating the skin, mashing the leaves or using directly essential oils. If using essential oils, they can be incorporated in absorbing products like dryer paper or volcanic stones before adding to the chamber.
To smoke and aromatize, fill the smaller aromatizing chamber with the desired herb or aromatic spices if desired and the top chamber with the damp sawdust. Consider the selection of strong aromas knowing that it will have to compete with the intensity of the smoke. Turn on the motor and light the fire. You will observe a white smoke without lighting the sawdust. You will notice that despite the time lighting and the smoke produced that there has not been a significant amount of combustion in the sawdust. If the wood dries because of the repeated lightings, add a few drops of water.
Smoking and Aromatizing Results
The smoke released by the Super Aladin smoker is powerful and clean. In my tests, I used some rosemary in the second chamber to aromatize apple wood smoke. To my surprise, this actually worked quite well. The Super Aladin smoker was able to gently extract the aroma of fresh rosemary and mix it with the apple wood smoke.
I also tried some flavored wood chips from Decorfood Italy that had beech wood sawdust, lemon peel, hay, corinto grape cinnamon, cloves, honey flavor, vanilla’s berries and licorice root. Very interesting aroma! There are also other interesting flavors in the market including peach, pear and cabernet oak.
The Super Aladin smoker is much more durable and easier to clean than the Smoking Gun. The metallic parts are very easy to clean and very strong. The additional screens are very handy since after some use they get obstructed and need to be replaced. The only part that is not so easy to clean and cannot be immersed in water is the motor base.
The biggest problem with the Super Aladin is that the on/off switch is placed on the bottom of the smoker so you need to use both hands to turn it off. Since you are usually holding the lighter and extension hose with your hands when smoking, it takes extra time to turn the Super Aladin off which results in unwanted smoke being released in the kitchen.
Overall the Super Aladin smoker produced great results and was easy to use and clean. Given its durability, I recommend it for commercial use. For home use, save some bucks and get the Smoking Gun or other more affordable smoking device.