Smoking hot: 5 of America's most extreme BBQ rigs, from battle tanks to jet airlines

David Klose is America’s bell cow of extreme barbecue rigs. 

The founder of BBQ Pits by Klose in Houston, Texas has custom-built many of the world’s biggest, most beautiful and most ambitious smokers. 

Among them are a motorcycle sidecar that could barbecue ribs at 100 miles per hour, a giant beer bottle smoker, and a stunning rig designed to look like a giant model of a commercial passenger jet.

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Yes, there’s ego, showmanship and all-American barbecue bravado behind the orders for the extreme rigs. 

But the No. 1 motive for customers is easy to pinpoint.

"It’s charity," said Klose. "You can raise millions of dollars a year by showing up at events with one of those barbecue pits to feed thousands of people."

A smoker designed like a M1A1 Abrams tank from WarPigs BBQ of Texas, left, and a military surplus tow truck used by C&J Sand Pigs of New Hampshire. (Dennis Butterworth; John Janelli)

John Janelli, a former Marine from Raymond, New Hampshire, also experienced the charitable power of a tricked-out barbecue rig.

He uses a military surplus tow-truck to haul a hog-shaped smoker he fabricated from a giant propane tank. 

Janelli intended to serve barbecue to friends and family. The rig, and the food, proved a popular party guest.

"It’s kind of ingrained in our culture." 

He’s recently cooked for Wounded Warriors and the VFW. He also rolled his rig through his hometown Memorial Day parade last year with a hog cooking inside his hog-shaped smoker — trailing a smoky, aromatic tail of deliciousness in its wake.

Barbecue, charity and veteran are a natural all-American trio, said barbecue champ and Army veteran Dennis Butterworth of WarPig BBQ in Crosby, Texas.

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"Anybody who’s been in the military, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines — at some point we had downtime and there was a grill and some charcoal and some cold beers and so that’s how we hung out," said Butterworth. 

"It’s kind of ingrained in our culture." 

5 of America's most amazing barbecue rigs 

1. A Class Carriers 76-foot trailer smoker

Terry Folsom of Brenham, Texas, is owner of what's touted as the world's largest mobile barbecue rig. The trailer is 76 feet long and can cook up to 12,000 pounds of meat at once.  (Terry Folsom/A Class Carriers)

Dubbed the world's largest mobile barbecue rig, A Class Carriers in Benham, Texas can smoke up to 12,000 pounds of meat at once. 

Terry Folsom has used his full-size, 40-ton trailer to aid charity events and disaster relief. 

He rushed the rig into service to feed victims of Hurricane Harvey when the category 4 storm struck the Texas coast in August 2017.

2. BBQ Pits by Klose passenger jet

David Klose of BBQ Pits by Klose in Houston, Texas took nine months to fabricate this scale-model passenger jet smoker.  (David Klose/BBQ Pits by Klose)

Klose spent nine months fabricating this smoker into a scale model of a commercial passenger jet, styled like a plane from the former Continental Airlines.

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Klose has fabricated thousands of custom-built barbecue rigs over the decades.

This one in particular, he said, "is breathtaking."

3. C&J Sand Pigs military tow truck

John Janelli of Raymond, New Hampshire, hauls his giant barbecue smoker to events with a 1991 BMY M92 military surplus truck.  (John Janelli/C&J's Sand Pigs)

Janelli, who spent time in the U.S. Marine Corps, took a giant green propane tank and turned it into a work of art: a giant hog-shaped smoker, complete with snout, fiery eyeballs and corkscrew tail. 

It even has details hanging from the back to show that it's a male pig.

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The rig proved too heavy to tow with an ordinary road truck, so he found a military surplus tow truck to handle the chore. 

The combination of patriotic truck and mischievous male pig (the smoker is, um, anatomically correct) is a huge hit at partis, charity events and parades.

4. Orange County Choppers RUB barbecue sidecar

BBQ Pits by Klose fabricated a motorcycle sidecar smoker for Orange County Choppers of New York and RUB Barbecue. (David Klose/BBQ Pits by Klose)

Klose fabricated a motorcycle-sidecar smoker for an episode of "American Chopper" starring the Teutul family of Orange County Choppers in upstate New York. 

The episode featured what was then the popular barbecue restaurant group RUB Barbecue.

"It costs as much as a Bentley," Andrew Fischel of RUB Barbecue said at the time.

The stylish barbecue rig can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour and cook 20 racks of rib.

5. WarPig BBQ M1A1 Abrams tank

Butterworth is a legendary barbecue champion who served on tank crews during his time in the U.S. Army.

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A model of the battle tank proved a perfect design for his competitive barbecue team's smoker. 

WarPig BBQ's M1A1-model barbecue smoker. Dennis Butterworth of Houston, Texas, who heads the competitive barbecue team, served in tank crews in the U.S. Army. (Dennis Butterworth/WarPig BBQ)

The tracks work, allowing Butterworth to roll the rig onto the barbecue battlefield. The barrel, of course, is a chimney to vent the smoker.

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