BBQ old school v modern

Twenty years ago when I first started to compete in BBQ contests for all intent and purposes all the contestants competed on a level playing field.  The smokers were charcoal and wood burning pits.  You bought your meat from purveyors that supported you in your endeavor to win.  Electricity was a luxury that you had to pay extra for and was just enough juice to power a couple of shop lights.  The judges were local dignitaries and visitors to the contests.

A few years ago Treager introduces pellet smokers and the game changed.  With pellet smokers you load your smoker with pellets plug it in turn the thermostat to whatever temp you want to cook, put the meat in and check it ever six to eight hours.  My wood smoker on the other hand requires that you add enough charcoal to get the wood started then you have to adjust the smoker to get the right temperature.  You put the meat in and check the smoker every hour or so to be sure that the temperature is being maintained.  My smoker however does not require electricity.

Meat purveyors decided to sponsor teams and "cherry pick" the best meat for the teams they decided to sponsor.  Leaving the rest of us to scramble for the left overs.  By now the rest of the teams have become shoppers to get the best possible meat from grocery stores and butchers that don't sponsor teams.  Not to worry we became experts at what we wanted and would be best for our style of BBQ.

Now to judging.  Way back when judges were instructed to grade the contestants from the top down.  The highest score was nine.  Judges were instructed to start at nine and work down depending on taste, tenderness and presentation.  Then the powers that be decided to certify judges and change the criteria for a start point.  Instead of starting high and working down now they are instructed to start in the middle and work up or down.  They have a team cook for them and based on what they cook the judges are instructed on how to judge the meat.  This is okay, but the judges have only what the team that cooks for them presents.  With that as a basis it is unfair to the rest of us that cook with more traditional tastes and smoke.  Judges are told to ignore the smoke ring and smoke flavor in favor of less smoke flavor and a visual presentation based on what can be achieved on a pellet smoker rather than a traditional smoker.

My thought is this: When dealing with tradition leave the tradition alone.  If all you want is new then start a competition that allows for that.  In other words money talks tradition suffers.