Best Smoke Days: FAQ
Common questions about the 7-day weather-aware BBQ forecast, the Friday digest, and how Pitmaster Tools handles your data.
Frequently asked questions
Is Best Smoke Days free?
Yes. The zip-coded 7-day forecast, the score calculation, the cut and cooker toggles, and the Friday email digest are all free. Pitmaster Tools is supported by a small set of affiliate product recommendations: they are disclosed and do not influence the scoring math.
Do I need to sign up?
No. The 7-day forecast works without an account. The optional Friday email digest does require a subscription so we know where to send it; you can subscribe and unsubscribe at any time, and we never sell or share your email.
Why is my Saturday score lower than last weekend's was?
Most often: wind or rain. Both swing more from day to day than headline temperature, and wind hits offset cookers hardest. Open the day details for the dominant reasons, or read the methodology for the math.
Which cuts does the score support?
Brisket (flat and packer), pork butt, spare ribs, baby back ribs, pork loin, whole chicken, spatchcock chicken, chicken thighs, whole turkey, turkey breast, fish, and lamb shoulder. The cut sets the hours that count: a day is scored over the hours that cut is on the smoker, assuming it comes off by 6 PM, so an overnight brisket carries the overnight low and morning rain that an afternoon chicken never sees. Humidity lengthens the stall on long cuts by well under an hour, so it is not scored.
Which cookers does the score support?
Offset stick burner, pellet, kamado, kettle, and electric smoker. Each carries a wind-sensitivity coefficient (offset 1.5×, kettle 1.2×, pellet 1.0×, kamado 0.5×, electric 0.1×).
Does the forecast cover non-US locations?
Open-Meteo covers most of the world, so the 7-day forecast usually works internationally. The Friday email regional segmentation is US-focused. International support is on the roadmap.
How do I unsubscribe from the Friday digest?
Every email carries an unsubscribe link from Sender, the service that sends the digest. If the link ever fails, email contact@pitmaster.tools.
Where does my data go?
Subscriber emails live in Cloudflare D1; the email itself only appears in Sender.net for sending over HTTPS. We don't include user-identifying tokens in the headers sent to Sender.net: deduplication uses an internal idempotency key stored only in our database, not transmitted as a header. Forecast queries are not associated with any user identifier. Affiliate clicks land on the merchant's site without forwarding your inputs. See the privacy policy for the full data map.
Want the math? Read the methodology page. Want to know how affiliate links work? See disclosures.