Behind the Smoke – Smoke in the Spring

There’s backyard BBQ. There’s the BBQ restaurant. There’s “Shrimp on the Barbie” in Australia. There’s BBQ at the tailgate. There’s the term BBQ which sometimes is just putting some cheap national brand sauce labeled “BBQ” on some overcooked meat. There’s a BBQ with burgers and dogs.

And then there’s Competition BBQ.

FireBoard recently traveled to Osage City, KS for the annual Smoke in the Spring BBQ Competition. This event, sponsored by FireBoard and organized by Corey Linton, is a KCBS sanctioned qualifying event for the American Royal BBQ Competition in Kansas City and the Jack Daniels Invitational BBQ Competition in October in Lynchburg, TN. It’s also a qualifying event for the newly announced BBQ World Cup event to be held in Spring 2027 in Las Vegas. 

The teams were excited about getting back into the competition circuit as the season is just underway. The flavors were flying and the smoke billowing. Competitors relied on the FireBoard 2 to monitor internal temperatures, while the Spark instant-read thermometer was used for spot checks and testing tenderness. These two products are staples at many BBQ competitions across the country.