The wife and some of her friends are going to smoke their turkeys for Christmas.
I’m skeptical.
Anyone ever smoked a turkey?
How was it?
But there is no gravy, unless you plan to boil down the neck, wings, parson’s nose and guts to make a gravy. 
Oh yeah, the turkey was surprisingly moist.
My dad smoked turkey and sausage and big slabs of meat.
He had a closet built to do it in a corner of the brick garage. Just like his great grandpa had.
The sausage was fine, the rest was too strong for me to eat.
We do Thanksgiving at my brother’s, and he has smoked some turkeys. It was delightful. He has a capsule shaped one, nothing elaborate.
I do it all the time. Did it this past Thanksgiving. I haven’t had fried turkey, but smoked is the only thing that has made turkey edible.
I would suggest brining followed by smoking.
And which fine Cuban cigar would you suggest? 
Ms_Fever and I bought a smoked turkey from Pappas BBQ this past Thanksgiving. It was moist and delicious, even if the spices were a little heavy in my opinion. But having someone prepare a turkey overnight for $30 and pocket change was priceless.
We’ve smoked turkeys on the backyard BBQ, but it will take many hours over semi-low heat to do it properly.
A case of beer will tremendously encourage the [strike]staff[/strike] guests to help keep watch on the proceedings.
Of course, there is always that Swanson Turkey micro-waveable (is that a word?) dinner like I had last year. Yummy!
Turkey prepared the usual Thanksgiving way is a boring, bland abomination in my not so humble opinion. I have had smoked turkey and it is a huge improvement and actually tastes good. I hear brining and frying improve it as well and I have begged the people that I have Thanksgiving with to at least try something.
that’s how santa likes it
I’ve tried the turkey fried in peanut oil a year or two ago. It was good too. Different. Crunchy skin. Moist meat.
Delicious.
I’m all for getting rid bland traditional fare.
To the OP: how are the chefs planning on smoking these birds?
I certainly can educate anyone interested on the subject of how NOT burn a turkey in the smoker.
I tried smoking a turkey one Thanksgiving. It tasted great, but I screwed up badly and wound up drying it out so badly it was close to jerky.
I’ve had smoked turkey many times before. A regional BBQ chain (Sonny’s, for those in the Southeast) will smoke them for you for the holidays if you call them ahead of time. I love having it that way, cause it’s just perfect – especially if you buy their sauce too. Drop off a turkey, and come back two days later for perfectly smoked holiday loving.
I haven’t done a turkey in an oven in over 25 years.
Once you do one outside, you will never go back.
I started a thread over here when I discuss my method of smoking a turkey.
Brine it then cook it outside.
Most people around here have an aluminum box with an element at the bottom primarily used for smoking salmon.
I hear you. For the life of me I can never figure out the mass salivation that occurs at the mention of a Thanksgiving turkey. It’s just a huge, dry, tasteless bird. Note to outraged turkey lovers: don’t gimme any of that crap about how ya gotta dress it up with all of the trimmings, stuffing, gravy, blah, blah, blah. Once you do that, aren’t you really just obscuring the overall crappiness to the point that you’re not even really eating turkey anymore? I thought so. I’ll load up on the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, thank you very much. Never had a whole smoked turkey, just sliced deli smoked turkey; it was damned tasty, sorta like ham.
BTW, what’s up with cooking a huge bird, stuffing yourself on Thanksgiving, and then carping about having to eat turkey for the next 2 weeks to get rid of all of the leftovers? If only there were a way around this…perhaps a marking on the turkey of some sort to indicate it’s weight, so that one might gauge the appropriate size to buy. I trust someday the finest minds in the food science industry will render this phenomenom a thing of the past.
I usually smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving. Did it just last month. I use a Weber Grill and either apple wood or hickory. Cooking time is fairly quick about 11 minutes per pound. Mine always finish faster. So it takes about as long as roasting in the oven, perhaps a little less time. I brined this one and used a drip pan. With what the drip pan gathered and what seeped out after resting I had about 2 cups of drippings so there was plenty of gravy for dinner and leftovers.
Unfortunately, the only two aluminum boxes I have are a Kenmore oven and a home-made BBQ pit.
I love Salmon/seafood as a substitute for traditional US holiday fare.
If I’m not being whooshed about a plain oven, I would love to hear more…
I haven’t taken on a turkey yet but I have done many chickens on a standard two-burner gas grill using Rick’s directions for smoking and brine soak. I will never use any other method. I use wood chips in a cast iron box placed directly on one side of the burners and no flame under the bird. Pre-soaked hickory chips make for a great smoked taste and couldn’t be easier. Box and chips at Home Depot for maybe $15 and last forever.
It’s really good if you brine it first. That keeps it juicy.
One of our close friends owns a turkey farm (for those of you in the area it’s by Burton’s Bridge - off Bearville Road - Grosso Farms - it’s right by Wright Road and Bearville) and each year, they take their biggest and after he’s butchered, they smoke it and take it up to Kief’s Reef - one year it was about a 40 pound bird I believe. In any event, it was MM-MM-Good stuff!