Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
The ratings favoured the top seed the other 73 times in 100
Their Grand Championship at ECP BBQ Challenge (2026-07-24) came as the ratings underdog — roughly a 27-in-100 shot against the field's top-rated team, Justice BBQ.
Their power rating has climbed 34 points across 6 contests since 2026-01-24 — from 1512 up to 1546.
97.5% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 701.6912 at ECP BBQ Challenge — 97.5% of a perfect 720.
2026 was the year it came together: 6 contests, 2 Grand Championships and 3 category wins, at an average finish in the top 34%.
Justice BBQ ahead in 71% of their meetings
Justice BBQ has come out ahead in 5 of their 7 shared contests.
Brisket is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 5.57 points below their chicken, and turns into a call 71% of the time against 86%.
Ahead in 71% of their meetings
They've finished ahead of 88 BBQ in 5 of their 7 shared contests.
Finished 5 of 17 at their very first tracked contest, Masters BBQ Challenge CR (2025-03-14).
Justice BBQ has landed one call behind them 2 times.
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
70 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Head-to-headTheir last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Smoke 44's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headCareers of much the same size, 9 contests to 7, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-headThey were already cooking in 2013, 12 years before Smoke 44's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with Smoke 44 on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headTheir last contest in the data was back in 2018, 8 years before Smoke 44's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 BBQ | 7 | 5 | 2 | 71% | ⚔ compare |
| Pura Vida BBQ | 7 | 5 | 2 | 71% | ⚔ compare |
| Justice BBQ | 7 | 2 | 5 | 29% | ⚔ compare |
| Bros & Fire PTY | 6 | 5 | 1 | 83% | ⚔ compare |
| DrumQ BBQ Costa Rica | 6 | 5 | 1 | 83% | ⚔ compare |
| Club Carbon CR | 6 | 3 | 3 | 50% | ⚔ compare |
| Tiquicia Smokers BBQ | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% | ⚔ compare |
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 7 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 179.4400 | 158.8228 | 170.36 | top 34% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 177.1544 | 162.2972 | 170.29 | top 43% |
| Pork | 7 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 179.4400 | 156.5600 | 167.16 | top 47% |
| Brisket | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 172.5484 | 154.8000 | 164.79 | top 45% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 6 | 2 | top 32% |
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 42% |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +15.9 | BBQ Fest Costa Rica | 2026-02-21 |
| +15.6 | ECP BBQ Challenge | 2026-07-24 |
| +8.3 | Masters BBQ Challenge CR | 2025-03-14 |
| +4 | Jaco Beach BBQ Challenge | 2026-03-06 |
| +3.7 | Chiriqui Grill Fest Internacional | 2026-01-24 |
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -2.5 | Pz al Carbon, Festival BBQ 2026 | 2026-06-26 |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 100% | top 34% | 97.5% | 93.9% |
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 29% | 90.5% | 90.5% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-24 | ECP BBQ Challenge San Jose, 92701 | 1 / 17 (701.6912) | 2 (179.4400) | 11 (170.2628) | 1 (179.4400) | 4 (172.5484) |
| 2026-06-26 | Pz al Carbon, Festival BBQ 2026 Perez Zeldon, SJ | 11 / 19 (677.1772) | 9 (169.7028) | 6 (175.4744) | 5 (172.5484) | 18 (159.4516) |
| 2026-05-01 | BBQ Fest Parque Tempisque Guanacaste, 50101 | 7 / 14 (674.7884) | 3 (173.7372) | 7 (168.5600) | 10 (166.2284) | 7 (166.2628) |
| 2026-03-06 | Jaco Beach BBQ Challenge Play Jaco, 61101 | 7 / 16 (678.8460) | 10 (169.1544) | 1 (177.1544) | 16 (160.5372) | 6 (172.0000) |
| 2026-02-21 | BBQ Fest Costa Rica Alajuela, 10903 | 1 / 18 (682.8232) | 2 (175.4172) | 10 (167.4516) | 3 (170.2744) | 1 (169.6800) |
| 2026-01-24 | Chiriqui Grill Fest Internacional Chiriqui, +507 | 13 / 31 (641.0400) | 14 (158.8228) | 7 (170.8572) | 22 (156.5600) | 15 (154.8000) |
| 2025-03-14 | Masters BBQ Challenge CR San Jose, 10104 | 5 / 17 (651.9084) | 7 (166.2628) | 12 (162.2972) | 6 (164.5484) | 9 (158.8000) |
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Master | #123 (1055 pts) | #139 (1055 pts) | #169 (960 pts) | #157 (925 pts) | #154 (945 pts) |