Weber makes three small charcoal grills, and people buy the wrong one constantly because the names do not tell you anything. The Smokey Joe is the little 14-inch kettle. The Jumbo Joe is an 18-inch kettle with the same locking lid. The Go-Anywhere is a rectangular grill whose legs fold over the lid so it packs flat. All three are porcelain-enameled steel built the way the full-size kettles are, all three cost less than a plain 22-inch Weber, and they suit three different owners.
This page is the decision, laid out honestly. Everything below is read from the listings on a dated visit — we have not cooked side by side on all three — and the prices are live.
The short answer
Buy the Jumbo Joe unless you have a specific reason not to. It is the smallest Weber that cooks like a real kettle: 240 square inches feeds a group of burgers or a couple of chickens, and the bowl is deep enough to bank coals to one side and cook with the lid down. It costs more than the Smokey Joe, and it is the extra money that buys you the ability to cook anything that takes longer than fifteen minutes.
The two specific reasons not to: you cook for one or two people and want the lightest, cheapest real grill there is — that is the Smokey Joe — or you need a grill that packs flat into a trunk or a camping crate, which is the Go-Anywhere’s whole design.
The three side by side
| | Smokey Joe 14" | Jumbo Joe 18" | Go-Anywhere |
|---|
| Cooking area | Not published (Weber rates it at 6 burgers) | 240 sq in | 160 sq in, rectangular |
| Shape | Round kettle, shallow bowl | Round kettle, squat but full-depth | Rectangular, shallow body |
| Carrying | 8.4 lb; Tuck-N-Carry lid lock | Lid lock for transport; keeps its kettle shape | Legs fold up and clamp the lid; packs flat |
| Ash | Ash catcher underneath | No ash catcher — you tip it out | No catcher; shallow body |
| Lid-down indirect cooking | Impractical (shallow bowl) | Yes — the one of the three that can | No — hot-and-fast only |
| Sits | Low; wants a table or the ground | Low; you cook crouched or on a table | Low; table height on its short legs |
| Build | Porcelain-enameled steel on all three — the same finish as the full-size kettles |
Size: what each one honestly cooks
Weber’s own six-burger rating for the Smokey Joe is the most useful number on this page, because it is honest. Six burgers is dinner for two or three with nothing else on the grate. Add corn or vegetables and it is dinner for two, in stages. It is a balcony, picnic and campsite grill, and at its price that is the right trade — our Smokey Joe review goes through it.
The Go-Anywhere’s 160 square inches sounds similar but the shape changes what fits. A rectangle takes a row of hot dogs, four burgers and a small steak neatly, with less of the wasted edge a round grate has. It is still a one-or-two-person grill, and the shallow body means everything is cooked hot and fast over the coals; there is no cool side to move anything to.
The Jumbo Joe’s 240 square inches is a different category. It is roughly two-thirds of a 22-inch kettle’s grate, and more importantly the bowl is deep enough to do what a kettle does: coals on one side, food on the other, lid on. That is what makes a couple of chickens or a rack of ribs possible on a grill you can carry to a tailgate. If you are choosing between it and the full-size kettle rather than between it and the Smokey Joe, our guide to what size grill you need is the page for that.
Carrying: lid locks vs packing flat
All three lock their lids for transport, but they lock differently. The Smokey Joe’s Tuck-N-Carry lock holds the lid on for carrying and then doubles as a lid holder while you cook, which matters more than it sounds on a grill with nowhere to put the lid down. The Jumbo Joe has a lid lock for transport and stays kettle-shaped, so it travels fine in a trunk but does not stack or slot anywhere.
The Go-Anywhere is the only one designed around packing. Its legs fold up over the lid and clamp it shut, and the result is a flat rectangle that slides in beside a cooler. If you are car-camping with limited space, or storing the grill in a small apartment between uses, that is the deciding feature and nothing on the other two answers it.
Ash and where you can safely use it
This is the point most comparisons skip. The Smokey Joe has an ash catcher underneath, so it will not scorch a table or a deck. The Jumbo Joe does not — the listing is plain that you tip the ash out — and the Go-Anywhere’s shallow body has no catcher either. On a concrete patio or the ground that changes nothing. On a wooden picnic table or a balcony deck it is a real reason to prefer the small kettle, or to put the bigger one on a paving slab. Our guide to putting out a charcoal grill covers ash disposal safely for all three.
Which one for which owner
- A balcony or a tiny patio, cooking for one or two:the Smokey Joe. Check your building’s rules on charcoal first — our small grills page explains what to look for.
- Camping or tailgating with a group: the Jumbo Joe. It is the one that feeds more than three and the one that can cook something slow while you set up.
- Solo or couple camping where every inch of the car counts: the Go-Anywhere, for the fold-flat body.
- A first grill on a tight budget, unsure if you will like charcoal: the Smokey Joe is the cheapest way to find out with a grill that will last, and it stays useful as a travel grill if you later buy a bigger one.
Whichever you buy, it will sit low. All three want a table or a stable patch of ground, and on any of them you will be checking doneness at grate level, so a cheap instant-read thermometeris the accessory to add: small grills run hot and fast, and the USDA’s 165°F for chicken does not get easier to hit by eye on a small grate.
A last word on fuel. A small grill needs a small chimney; a full-size one holds far more charcoal than any of these bowls can take. The compact chimney in our chimney starter roundup is sized for exactly this class, and how much charcoal to use has the loads for a 14- and an 18-inch grill.
