Weber Jumbo Joe 18 vs Smokey Joe 14
240 sq in on an 18-inch bowl at $89.99, against 147 sq in on a 14-inch bowl at $54.99. What $35 and 93 more square inches change about the cook.
We pick the Weber Jumbo Joe Charcoal Grill 18
Buy the Jumbo Joe unless you only ever cook for two. $35 more takes the grate from 147 sq in to 240 and the bowl from 14 inches to 18. That is the gap between a cool side in name and one that finishes chicken while sausages sear. The Smokey Joe outscores it overall, and for a couple it is the better buy. Weber pitches it at two to four people and the Jumbo Joe at four to six.
What actually differs
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93 square inches, and a cool side you can use
Both bank coals the kettle way. On a 14-inch bowl the cool half is small, and neither zone is generous. On 240 sq in, one half sears sausages while chicken pieces finish on the other.
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Neither stands up, and one is wider
The Smokey Joe is 17 inches tall and the Jumbo Joe 19.7, so both want a table or a tailgate. The bigger grill sits on a 19.7 by 20.5 inch footprint against 14.2 by 16.5. Measure the boot before the bowl.
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Same enamel, same ten years, one grate question
Each carries ten years on the porcelain bowl and lid, and each hangs an ash catcher under it. The Jumbo Joe's grate is plated steel. Weber's Smokey Joe page calls its grate cast iron in one line and plated steel in another.
The scorecard, side by side
Both reviews are scored on the same six weighted categories, each bar on the same 0–10 scale, and every cell carries the reason that review gave. A row is marked won only where the two differ by a tenth or more. How we score →
The Original Kettle 18's bowl, grate and dampers, so the same two-zone fire; the thin plated grate stores little heat for searing.
Lid and bowl dampers give the full kettle control system, over a fire only 14 inches across.
Porcelain bowl and lid carry ten years, but the plated grate, nylon handle and wire legs sit on much shorter cover.
Ten years against rust through on bowl and lid, five on plastics, two on the rest, over porcelain enamel.
Enamel is the same as the big kettles, yet a wide bowl on short wire legs rocks on gravel or soft grass.
Porcelain enamel matches the big kettles, but it stands on a short wire tripod, and Weber names the grate two different materials.
The Tuck-N-Carry lock carries and holds the lid, but at 19.7 in tall every coal adjustment means crouching unless you supply a table.
The Tuck-N-Carry lock holds the lid for travel and while cooking, but at 17 in tall it wants a table to cook at.
At $89.99 it matches the Go-Anywhere's price with 240 sq in against 160, and undercuts the same-sized $129.00 kettle.
At $54.99 the bowl and lid carry the same ten years Weber puts on kettles costing several times more.
No sweep feeds the ash pan, so clearing a cold bowl means lifting the grate out and tipping the whole grill.
Porcelain wipes down and the catcher lifts away, but the feature list names no One-Touch sweep to push ash into it.
Published figures that differ
Quoted from each maker's own specifications, as each review records them. Figures the two products publish identically are left out — only the differences are listed.
Which one is for you
You cook for four to six, want a real two-zone fire, and will set it on a table or tailgate.
Check price →You cook for two, want the smallest kettle Weber makes, and would rather keep the $35.
Check price →More head-to-heads
Every score and figure on this page comes from our own reviews of these two products, linked above. We have not tested them side by side in one place; the comparison is between two full reviews, each built from the maker's published specifications and documentation. Prices move, and the ones quoted are the ones each review checked on its own date.