Charleston, SC, one of my favorite cities to visit for great food and fun.  What a weekend I had starting off the competition season.

I arrived in Charleston early on Thursday with two brand new cookers that had never been fired up.  This was not the way I wanted to start the season, as I hadn’t had a chance to practice on these cookers.  Thursday night, all day Friday and Friday night became an adventure with severe thunderstorms accompanied by high winds kept everyone on their toes watching the weather.  A few tents were lost in the lake which caused a few teams to relocate to safer ground.

There were nearly 100 teams competing in the dual sanctioned contest.  I only competed in the KCBS contest which was full of teams considered to be some of the best in the country including last years team of the year, Cool Smoke, along with Smokey Mountain Smokers, Checkered Pig, B.S. Pitmeisters, and other nationally recognized teams.

On Saturday, the storms were gone, but the strong winds and falling temperatures made turn-ins a little difficult.  I was by myself and had to run my own turn in boxes.  The wind was so strong that I had to hold on tight to my boxes when taking them to the judging area to keep them from being blown out of my hands.

We gathered for awards around 5:30 in the afternoon and heard a great band called The East Coast Party Band.  Top five in each category were called to the stage.  I only received a call in Brisket getting a third place trophy, which I was quite excited about, but the real excitement for me came at the conclusion of awards when I found out that I had place 3rd place overall in the competition just three points behind Cook Smoke in second place.  Smokey Mountain Smokers took home the grand championship. Congrats to both Joe and Tuffy.

Third place overall was a great way to start off the competition season for team Learn2Q.  As for the new cookers?  I LOVE them!  Next stop on the tour is Hammond, LA, another one of my favorite stops.  Can’t wait to eat some crawfish and boudan. YUM YUM!