It has often been said that if you can find something that you enjoy doing and make it your job, then you will always wake up wanting to go to work. I can appreciate someone that takes a hobby and turns it into a way to make a living. I would venture to guess that those people are extremely happy to go to work each day. Why wouldn't they be?? Imagine if you could hunt or fish everyday for a living, or play a favorite sport. Wouldn't you jump at that chance??
I have a friend that is trying and succeeding at doing just that very thing. His hobby has now become his life. Mike Baxter of Fitzgerald, GA has taken his love for turning raw meat into bone sucking good eats to the next level. Not only is Mike garnering quite a reputation as a BBQ Master in cooking competitions, he is also manufacturing his own wood chips to create an award winning smokey taste that all true BBQ lovers crave.
How did this happen? Pretty simple really. Mike likes to smoke his BBQ. He would often purchase wood chips in bags from the store, only to find that they were too small or too large for his cooking needs. Any true BBQ master will tell you that the smoke is where the flavor comes from and the size of your wood chips can be very important to get the best smoke possible in your alotted cooking time. Mike frequently found himself with hatchet in hand trimming his store bought wood chunks to fit his cooking needs. Being the entrepreneurial type, a light clicked on in Mike's head and
Baxter's Original was born.
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| You can get an idea of the size of the wood chucks here! |
Baxter's Originals is not a fancy wancy kind of company that will fill you with a lot of fluff! Mike still cuts all of his wood with his hatchet and bags the wood chips in small burlap bags with his logo spray painted on the side of the bag. Not a lot of frills, but you do get one heck of a product that is excellent for your grilling and smoking needs. All you do is soak a few pieces of his wood in water or your favorite juice for about 20 minutes and then add them to your heat. You are now smoking with Baxter's Original smoke!! What kind of wood you might ask?? Depends on the flavor you want! He has anything from Apple to Walnut! I even add these chips to my Holland grill surface and they smoke really well without burning up too quickly like a smaller wood chip might do. For those of you who have a Holland grill, you know that it is hard to get that smokey taste because the Holland is not much more than an outdoor oven, but with Baxter's wood chips I can get smoke pouring out of both stacks.
Mike has been in business for almost two years now, and though he has not been able to quite quit his day job just yet, he says that the business is continuing to grow and he has shipped product to all 50 states as well as Canada, Germany and the Neverlands. He says that they fill about 100 orders a week and that his best business comes from repeat customers. He is even sponsoring the St. Louis Style Cooking Team that has done quite well on the competition BBQ circuit in the Central Texas BBQ Association!
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| A winning combination! Baxter Smoke and grilled pig parts! |
So how do you get your hands on some of this Baxter Smoke making wood? Just click on the link above or go to
http://www.baxtersoriginal.com/ and take a look at his website. Pick out what products you want and hit the little order button. I promise you will not be dissapointed in his product. I can not however promise that you will automatically turn into a grilling master like Mr. Baxter shown below!
Editors Note: Mike did not pay me to write this review. I did this because I believe in his product and his determination to make his company work, although I would not turn down a T-shirt or a rib dinner if it was offered!
Smoke on Bax!!!
