So a neighbour was throwing away “an egg” and of course I had to pounce on it, just in case it was a real egg. It turns out that what he was throwing away was in fact a Large Imperial Kamado. The great grandfather of the Big Green Egg or the Kamado Joe… this is the original deal.
Now, when we picked it up it barely opened and everything was rusted shut. Painstakingly, I took apart all the metal work, bought an angle grinder and went to work restoring this Kamado to it’s original beauty.
Some parts were not salvageable but the good thing is that parts from the Big Green Egg were adapted and fit with minimal fuss. A new firebox, fire ring and bottom damper was all it took.
I figure I put about $400 back into restoring this Kamado and it was worth every second! It works just as well as an egg, though it probably is slightly less efficient in terms of holding heat in. The difference is that the Imperial Kamado is made of earthenware vs the Big Green Egg which is ceramic.
Thanks for chucking away this piece of history neighbour!
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