High-water mark
669.0400
career-best overall
92.9% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 669.0400 at Kenai River BBQ Competition — 92.9% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- Jun 30, 2023
Up N Smoke
Up N Smoke is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2023. Their best overall finish is 4th of 9 at the Kenai River BBQ Competition (2023). They finished #1236 in the 2021 Master Series Team of the Year standings. Also listed in KCBS results as “Up N' Smoke” and “UP-N-SMOKE”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1494
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 3
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Mar 22, 2019
latest Jun 30, 2023 · 4.3 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
1
20% of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 65%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
20%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 163.99 · weakest Chicken (148.18)
Road miles
4,965
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 3,415 mi
Schedule strength
47%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1562)
Purse competed for
$24K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 2 state-championship entries
Master avg
655.91 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
234.79 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 ↗ | Master | #1236 (60 pts) | #1286 (60 pts) | #1309 (60 pts) | #1262 (60 pts) | #1245 (60 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Up N Smoke, each with one reason worth a look.
Up N Smoke has 3 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 132 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,448 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1494
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#3,453 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1507
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 5 years before Up N Smoke's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,479 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1505
Level with Up N Smoke on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,466 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1494
They were already cooking in 2014, 5 years before Up N Smoke's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#3,467 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 60%
- Peak
- 1502
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 7 years before Up N Smoke's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#3,462 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1501
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 7 years before Up N Smoke's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.6800 | 108.5488 | 148.18 | top 63% |
| Pork Ribs | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 163.9544 | 126.2400 | 150.82 | top 72% |
| Pork | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 171.4400 | 156.5488 | 163.99 | top 55% |
| Brisket | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 163.9656 | 157.6572 | 160.81 | top 59% |
“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.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 1 | 0 | top 44% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 76% |
More numbers
Contests a season
1
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
LA
2 of 5 contests · 4 states and provinces in all
Contests visited
3
a different one every time
Opponents faced
146
finished ahead 31 times, behind 115
Longest layoff
4 yrs
Mar 27, 2015 → Mar 22, 2019
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20251 milestone
- Most recent contest Big Smoke Bonnyville
20236 milestones
- First call Kenai River BBQ Competition
- First overall top-10 Kenai River BBQ Competition
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score669.0400 Kenai River BBQ Competition
- Career-best overall score669.0400 Kenai River BBQ Competition
- Career-best single call (Pork)171.4400 Kenai River BBQ Competition
- Peak power rating (1494) Kenai River BBQ Competition
20151 milestone
- First tracked contest Smokin Blues & BBQ
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +5.4 | Kenai River BBQ Competition | Jun 30, 2023 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -9.2 | Hammond BBQ | Mar 22, 2019 |
| -2.7 | Smoke on the Trails | Sep 10, 2021 |
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 44% | 92.9% | 92.9% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 70% | 89.3% | 89.3% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 81% | 65.2% | 65.2% |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 6, 2025 | Big Smoke Bonnyville Bonnyville, AB | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jun 30, 2023 | Kenai River BBQ Competition Soldotna, AK | 4 / 9 (669.0400) | 5 (169.6800) | 7 (163.9544) | 3 (171.4400) | 4 (163.9656) |
| Sep 10, 2021 | Smoke on the Trails 🏅 Gardner, KS | 37 / 53 (642.7892) | 28 (166.3088) | 37 (162.2744) | 41 (156.5488) | 39 (157.6572) |
| Mar 22, 2019 | Hammond BBQ 🏅 Hammond, LA | 39 / 48 (234.7888) | 38 (108.5488) | 33 (126.2400) | — | — |
| Mar 27, 2015 | Smokin Blues & BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |