An achievment worth writing about.

This weekend I Smell Smoke won it's 5th straight Massachusetts Championship in a row. Overall the team has won 7 Massachusetts State Championships. I can't make any grand claims about this being the biggest streak or anything because I haven't done the research but I'll bet it's right up there near the top.

The team won it's first Massachusetts State Championship in 1997 at the Pig in Pepper Festival in Westford Mass. This was actually the first Grand Championship the team had ever won. We had a dry spell for a few years and did not win our second Mass State Championship until 2001 which was also the Pig and Pepper Festival.

In 2002 there were two Mass State Championships, one in Lowell and one in Acton. The Yahoos managed to win both of those events but I Smell Smoke was Reserve Grand in the Acton event and this marked the rise of our teams success. We placed Reserve Grand in several contests that year.

From 2003 to 2007 the Massachusetts State Championship was held in Lowell Massachusetts. I Smell Smoke did not compete in 2003. I Smell Smoke was Grand Champ of the Lowell event from 2004 to 2007.

That brings us to the present. This years Massachusetts State Championship was held in Harvard Mass at the Harvard fall festival and 35 teams competed in the event. The team was short 2 founding members and the weather posed some problems as well. Doug and Charlie were not able to make it due to other commitments but the rest of the team was up for the challenge. It rained during the night and our site became a mud bowl. The rain also knocked out the power several times forcing us to move our meat from the Cookshack pellet smoker (requires electricity) to our Backwoods Smoker. In the end we persevered placing 8th in chicken, 7th in ribs, 2nd in pork, 2nd in Brisket and Grand Champion for the 5th Year in a Row. BaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhBaQue !