One founder. One smoker to start with.
Hard work and shortcuts aren’t compatible
Ed learned that aboard the USS John F. Kennedy. Thirty-odd years later it turned into a spice company.
The introduction
“Hi — I’m Ed.”
“US Navy veteran, enthusiastic golfer (I said enthusiastic, not good), and the guy behind everything you see here.”
That’s the whole company, more or less. One person who is both the golfer and the pitmaster — which is where the product names come from, and why they’re not a marketing gimmick invented in a meeting. The Bunker, the Bogey, the Pitching Wedge. If you’ve played, you already know which ones are jokes at his own expense.
Service
USS John F. Kennedy
CV-67 · Norfolk, VA · early 1980s
Started
Father’s Day 2019
A gift from his kids
Based
Tampa Bay, FL
Ships nationwide
How it happened
It started as a gift and became a problem to solve.
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1980s
The Navy
Aboard the USS John F. Kennedy
Out of Norfolk, Virginia. The lesson that stuck wasn’t about food. It was that hard work and shortcuts aren’t compatible — that if you skip the slow part, you don’t get the result, you get a version of it. That sentence eventually became a manufacturing standard.
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2019
Father’s Day
His kids gave him an electric smoker
Which was very kind of them, and turned out to be expensive. He cooked. Then he read the labels on the rubs he was buying — salt, sugar and filler, in that order, with “spices” doing a lot of unexplained work near the end of the list.
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Next
Blending
He started making his own
With “real garlic, real paprika, the freshest natural ingredients.” Better than store-bought, and still not the thing he was chasing. Something was missing and it wasn’t another ingredient.
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Then
The turning point
He tried smoking the spices himself
Garlic, pepper, salt, paprika, low and slow over hickory, in the backyard, just to see what would happen. It didn’t taste like a rub anymore. It tasted like something else.
That’s where the ratios came from.
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Now
Scale
It outgrew the smoker
One man with a backyard rig can’t supply a shelf. Today the blends are produced with smoked components sourced to spec — hardwood-smoked spices in the single jars, natural smoke flavor in the blends — then blended to Ed’s written formulas in a food-safe facility. The recipe didn’t change. The scale did.
Same formula. Every bottle.
How a bottle gets made
Four steps, and we’ll show you all four.
Including the part where a co-packer is involved, which most brands our size would rather you didn’t think about.
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01
Source to a written spec
Real garlic, real paprika, real coriander — and smoked components specified by name, not left to whatever’s cheapest that quarter. Every input is one Ed signed off on.
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02
Real hardwood smoke, declared
The smoke in our blends starts as actual smoke — hardwood, condensed and carried onto the spice. It appears on our panel by name. Most rubs with a smokestack on the front have no smoke ingredient at all; ours is printed twice.
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03
Blend to the formula, and taste it
The ratios were worked out by hand in 2019 and written down. Batches get checked against them — colour, smell, taste — because a spec on paper and a spoon in your mouth aren’t always the same thing.
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04
Packed small, labelled honestly
Five named ingredients or fewer in most blends. Rice hulls for anti-caking instead of silicon dioxide. No “spices” catch-all, no dextrose, no MSG.
The part most brands leave out
We don’t blend it in a garage. Here’s who does.
SmokED Stuff owns the recipes and the sourcing standards. The blending and packing is done by a co-packer — a facility set up to do it consistently, at food-safe scale, batch after batch. The smoking that used to happen in Ed’s backyard happens upstream now, at suppliers held to a written spec.
Plenty of small brands imply a one-man kitchen operation long after they’ve outgrown it. We’d rather say it plainly: one founder, real recipes, professional production. That’s how the twentieth bottle tastes like the first.
- Who owns the recipe
- Ed. Every blend, every ratio.
- Who blends & packs
- A dedicated co-packer.
- Where the smoke comes from
- Real hardwood, sourced to spec. Named on the panel.
- Where it ships from
- Tampa Bay, Florida.
- What’s in it
- Printed in full. Always.
What people are saying
Nobody paid for these.
Real customers, in their own words.
I am extremely selective in particular to items and brands that I use in every part of my life. I especially love cooking and smoking and nothing over the last 20 years has had more of an impact on my recipes than your products.
Hi Ed! I’m guessing the equivalent of a home run in golf terms would be a hole in one? I’ve used the LP on shrimp, grouper and chicken—EXCELLENT! This is definitely one of my favorites!
A wide variety of excellence awaits when you visit SmokED Stuff – I’ve accumulated more than a few and these get constantly used in the kitchen and the grill outdoors. Bunker Rub always in rotation, and a newer addiction is Brown Sugar on ham and bacon. Visit Ed – your taste buds will thank you. Can’t go wrong – makes a great gift or keep ’em all for yourself.
Tried the Driver Rub from SmokEd Stuff on chicken last night and it was incredible! The flavor was perfectly balanced—smoky, savory, and just the right touch of seasoning without being overpowering. It created a delicious crust on the outside while keeping the chicken juicy and tender inside. My family kept asking what I used because it tasted like restaurant-quality BBQ at home. Definitely a must-have rub for anyone who loves flavorful chicken—highly recommend!
Fast shipping and a great product! We use Bunker on everything—chicken, potatoes, eggs, veggies—it’s our go-to seasoning. We also love using Par on pork shoulders, and Texas Wedge is amazing on steaks, pork and even in Bloody Marys. While SmokEd Stuff is perfect for smoked meats, it’s also incredibly versatile and works well on just about anything that needs a little extra flavor.
SmokED Stuff seasoning is by far one of the superior products in the BBQ and foodies world! You don’t have to be a Pit-Master or a Chef to use these amazing seasoning. I have been blessed to use these seasoning for two years and I strongly encourage everyone to give SmokED Stuff seasoning a try. You won’t regret it!
We’ve been loyal fans of SmokED Stuff rubs since they first started. The PAR rub is our go-to for chicken – it adds the perfect smoky flavor with a delicious BBQ touch that’s absolutely irresistible. I highly recommend their rubs, and make sure to visit them at a weekend market – the owners are always there and truly make the experience special.
Smoked stuff spices is amazing! What really stands out is the quality. The spices taste fresh, and the combinations feel unique compared to what you’d find in a typical grocery store. It’s clear this isn’t mass-produced—there’s a craftsmanship to it. There is heart behind what smoked stuff makes and we truly use it on everything. My son and daughter love bunker on everything, even pizza, while my husband and I can’t get enough of Texas wedge and tee box. Hands down best spices out there with amazing ingredients.
Amazing smoked spices! My favorite is the smoked garlic.
Great spices and food. Awesome people!
First off why would anyone use anything else besides the Bunker Rub for grilled steaks?? We smoked a spatchcocked turkey with the Birdie Rub.. yummmm! I roasted a spaghetti squash with the Driver Rub – will definitely be doing that again! Finally- we did a combined rub of the Pitching Wedge and Texas Wedge Rub on Prime Rib for 24hours with a combination cooking methods of Sous Vide and Reverse Smoked- finishing with sear and compound butter.. let’s just say there weren’t no lefties!! So happy to be one of your new but certainly planning on being a lifetime customer!!
FAQs
Straight answers. If yours isn’t here, email us.
What is “natural smoke flavor” on your label?
It’s real smoke. Hardwood is burned, the smoke is condensed and filtered, and what’s left gets carried onto the spice. It starts as smoke and it stays smoke — it is not a synthetic flavor compound built in a lab.
Here’s the straight version: for the first couple of years Ed cold-smoked every ingredient himself, in his own smoker, eight hours at a time. That doesn’t scale to a shelf. The blends are now produced with smoked components sourced to spec, blended to the same written formulas. We’d rather tell you that than let you assume there’s still a guy out back feeding a firebox.
The part that hasn’t changed: every blend’s smoke is printed on the panel by name — hardwood smoke on the single spices, natural smoke flavor in the blends — instead of buried in a “spices” or “natural flavors” catch-all. Go compare that to the rubs on your shelf with hickory in the name and no smoke ingredient anywhere on the label.
Shipping and returns
Free shipping on orders over $25, applied automatically at checkout — there’s no code to remember and no minimum-order math. Orders leave Tampa Bay usually the next business day. Damaged in transit? Email us and we replace it, no return needed.
Gluten-free, MSG, allergens
No MSG, gluten-free, non-GMO, no fillers. Individual products carry their own tags — the Bunker is also dairy free. The full panel is printed on every product page, not just on the bottle.
Why golf names?
Because the founder is a golfer and a pitmaster, and it’s the same person. Every product also carries a plain-English descriptor, so you never have to guess what’s in the bottle from the name alone.
Do you sell wholesale?
Yes. Butcher shops, restaurants, retailers and caterers — there’s a real application form at our wholesale page and we answer within two business days.
Contact
It’s a small company.
Ed reads these.
Questions about a cook, a bulk order, a wholesale account or a bottle that arrived cracked — same inbox, usually answered within a day.