Our Honest Review of the Breville Smoking Gun and Cloche

We know our Food Network Canada readers are serious about what they eat and drink, and of course, so are we! So when we noticed that some of the most popular items you’ve bought over the past year involved smoking your cocktails, cheeses, meats and desserts, we couldn’t help but put the highly-rated Breville Smoking Gun and Glass Cloche Bundle to the test. What were our takeaways? Read on to find out. 

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What does the Breville Smoking Gun and Glass Cloche Bundle do?

Breville is known for making quality small kitchen appliances, and the brand adapted its commercial specialized smoking gun for use in home kitchens. The idea is to add smokey flavours to just about anything that can fit under the unit’s cloche (the glass dome-like object). For foodies, this added aroma adds complexity and layers to existing favourites, like cocktails, foods like cheeses and meats, and delicate desserts like ice cream and chocolate mousse. Just don’t expect it to produce the types of flavours you’d get by smoking meats low and slow, on the BBQ or charcoal smoker; this is not what it was designed for.    

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We ordered the bundle shortly after the holidays to test how well the set works with a variety of foods and drinks. Included in the set is cold smoke wood chip sample flavours (hickory and applewood) that we also used in testing. You can also buy Breville’s woodchip bundle in additional flavours like cherrywood and mesquite or other brands’ versions too.  

What comes with the bundle?

Along with the wood chip samples, the bundle also comes with the smoking gun, a borosilicate glass cloche with valve, silicone smoke tube, two mesh filters, four AA batteries, an instruction book, recipe cards, and replacement filters.

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What features does the bundle have? 

The smoking gun has dual speed control, which lets you switch between gentle cold smoke or more intense smoke — gentle works well with fresh or more delicate food like ice cream or butter. While the more intense smokehouse flavour is great for harder cheeses and cured meats. The smoke feature can also be used on raw foods like oysters, ceviche or tartar. 

How does the Breville Smoking Gun and Cloche bundle work? 

Place your chosen foods under the cloche with a pinch of wood chips in the removable burn chamber of the smoking gun. Begin smoking on high to better ignite the chips and then lower the intensity if you prefer. Light the chips with a wand lighter, connect the silicone smoke tube to the valve on the cloche and let it do its thing. 

Turn off the smoking gun and leave the contents to sit in the cloche for a few minutes — depending on how intense you want the flavour. Alternatively you can even serve your food or drink under the cloche, lifting for some dramatic effect if you really want to impress your dinner guests — just be careful not to oversmoke the cloche. To switch things up, you can also use dried or fresh herbs (think rosemary or sage), and spices for delicious flavours profiles. 

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How much does the bundle cost in Canada?

In Canada, you can find the whole bundle on Amazon for $190 at the time this review was published or on Breville’s Canadian site. 

You can also get the Breville Smoking Gun on its own for $130, the commercial-grade Breville Smoking Gun Pro for $201, or the glass cloche alone for $100. 

What are the pros and cons of the bundle? 

While we’ve worked with a cocktail smoker kit in the past, we wanted to fully test this robust unit’s capacity on a wider range of foods and drinks. 

The Advantages: 

We found the smoking gun and cloche bundle a lot easier and more versatile to work with than a cocktail smoker kit alone. 

The smoking gun and valved cloche work seamlessly together. We also loved the idea of experimenting with other ways to use the smoking gun without the cloche. 

Breville’s thoughtful design and quality translate throughout the bundle. 

The Disadvantages: 

Compared to other options on the market, the bundle is on the pricier end.

The cloche and smoking gun do take up space.

The sample size of the wood chips could be bigger for the cost of the bundle, so you’ll need to buy more relatively quickly.

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How well does the bundle smoke a variety of food and drink: 

We tried the Breville Smoking Gun and Cloche on homemade Madagascar vanilla gelato, popcorn, non-alcoholic Old Fashioned and aged gouda cheese. 

Gelato: We are big fans of smokey flavours, and can confirm that the experience was a treat. With gelato, the smokey aroma seeped in nicely without overpowering the blend. 

Popcorn: We oversmoked the popcorn a bit, but this comes down to personal preference. Here again was the reminder that a little goes a long way when infusing smoke in your concoctions. 

Non-Alcoholic Old Fashioned: This is where the technique really shined. Beverages in the non-alcoholic category can get a bad reputation for often being reduced to sweet, simple drinks, rather than layered, complex beverages. The smokey aroma added presence and elevation to the cocktail, and we loved every sip of it. 

Aged Gouda cheese: We loved our smoked gouda, so we thought — why not smoke it ourselves! While ours turned out milder using the applewood chips, we can see how the flavour would build on a higher setting, and for longer under the cloche. 

Final takeaway: As with any new tool or technique, experience is key. Finding the right intensity, at the right length, for each palette and preference will take a few tries — but we’re here for it. We absolutely loved the versatility and range one little device can add to our food and drink options. 

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Should I buy the Breville Smoking Gun and Cloche? 

Whether you should buy the Breville Smoking Gun and Cloche bundle really depends on how often you would realistically use it. While we noted the cost and storage space it needs as a possible barrier, this is one of those specialized kitchen products that can really elevate your culinary repertoire and add a bit of theatre to your presentation. 

The smoking gun and cloche are so simple to use, and the bundle’s applications are so endless in versatility that we found it hard not to justify the expense. If you have the budget and the interest in playing with infusions like this, it is worth the buy. Alternatively, you can wait until the bundle is on sale as well (it’s on sale now and we’ve seen good deals during Amazon’s seasonal sales like Prime Day, and the Holidays). Bottom line: The quality is what you’d expect Breville, and we loved its application to this specialized kitchen tool.