About The
Pit Preacher

I grew up in the Dallas, Texas area and started smoking food at 22 years old — 25 years ago. My first rig was an Ugly Drum Smoker I built in my driveway. It wasn't pretty, but it taught me everything about fire management and patience.

After six years on the UDS I graduated to an offset stick burner — bought it used, cooked on it until the firebox rusted through. Those were the years I really learned to read smoke. From there I moved to the Weber Smokefire pellet cooker, which I've been running for the last five years. Though I'll be honest — I'm seriously considering going back to a stick burner for that heavier smoke profile you just can't replicate.

I'm not a competition guy. I've been to competitions to watch friends compete and it's not really for me. I'm a backyard pitmaster who just wants to put good food on the table. My favorite thing to smoke is pork butt — it's forgiving, it rewards experimentation, and it doesn't cost a fortune if something goes sideways.

Every Sunday night I smoke a ribeye for date night with my wife. We throw on lobster tails when it's a special occasion. She tells me she prefers my cooking over restaurants. I choose to believe her.

BBQ is peace. BBQ gives me something to do that I actually enjoy. It's calmness and patience — two things that are hard to find anywhere else.

I was tired of generic advice. Search engines give you the same recycled recipes. Chatbots give you textbook answers that have nothing to do with your specific rig, your wood, or how you actually cook. I didn't want to scroll through endless results looking for something that fit my setup.

I wanted something that could learn who I am as a cook — and give me detailed, specific advice that would actually make me better. Not just what temperature to run, but why. Not just what wood to use, but how it interacts with the meat I'm cooking on the smoker I own.

I also needed a place to store my cooks. When you nail a pork butt — the rub, the timing, the bark, the pull — you want to be able to go back to that. I wanted a journal that captured not just the recipe but the whole story of the cook.

So I built it.

The Pit Preacher is a 24/7 AI pitmaster built for backyard cooks and BBQ enthusiasts. It knows your rig, your wood, and your regional style — and tailors every answer to your specific setup.

Ask it anything: why your brisket is stalling, what wood pairs best with pork ribs, how to build better bark, what bourbon to pour alongside your plate. It covers every cut of meat, every smoker type, every regional BBQ tradition from Texas to the Carolinas to Kansas City.

Beyond the chat, members can log every cook in the Cook Journal — tracking temps, timing, wood, notes, and photos. The Preacher gives you AI-generated advice before each smoke based on exactly what you're cooking. And when you nail a cook, you can share it with the community with a single tap.

The Pit Preacher is built and operated by Lone Star Que, LLC — a Texas company founded in 2026. It was designed, coded, and launched by one person with a full-time job, a family, and a smoker in the backyard.

The app is built on modern web technology and powered by Anthropic's Claude AI — the same model that powers some of the most advanced AI applications in the world. Every response is generated in real time, tailored to your specific cook and setup.