A pellet smoker built to run indoors: real wood smoke in a kitchen, filtered rather than vented. It also air-fries and grills. It raised US$347,536 in thirty days, was expected to reach backers in June 2026, and as of 19 August 2026 has not. This page has no buy button, because there is currently nothing to buy.
Maker: Livwell Brands LLC, Miami, FL
Status on 19 August 2026: funded, campaign closed, nothing shipped. The maker’s own shop sells pellets and a cleaning kit for the SmoqeX, and does not list the SmoqeX.
This is a Watching page. Backing a crowdfunding campaign is not a purchase, and this campaign has already closed — there is no way to order the cooker as we write. Everything below is what the campaign and its coverage state, not what anyone has confirmed in a kitchen.
Where this stands
We normally put a purchase link here. There is not one.
The Kickstarter campaign ended on 12 March 2026 and no longer accepts pledges. The maker’s store at livwellhq.com carries 55 products, and we read the full catalogue on 7 August 2026. Four of them are accessories for the SmoqeX, a variety pack of smoke pods at US$34.95, an 8 lb bag of pellets at US$26.95, a 2 lb bag at US$12.95, and a cleaning kit at US$22.95. All four are in stock.
The cooker itself is not in the catalogue.
There are ordinary explanations for that — a company holding first production for backers would sell consumables early and list the machine later. We are recording it because it is the clearest single indicator of where this product actually is: you can buy the fuel, and you cannot buy the thing that burns it.
The campaign
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Funding period | 10 February – 12 March 2026 (30 days) |
| Goal | US$10,000 |
| Raised | US$347,536 |
| Percentage of goal | 3,475% |
| Backers | 587 |
| Updates posted | 18 |
| Comments | 349 |
| Kickstarter badge | Project We Love |
| Last update | 8 August 2026 |
Source: the campaign page.
Two figures here point in opposite directions, and both matter.
An average pledge near US$592 across 587 backers is not a novelty purchase. These are people who committed the price of a serious appliance to a company that had not yet built one at scale.
The page was updated on the day we read it, with 17 updates and 336 comments behind it. Whatever is happening, the campaign has not gone quiet, which is one of the more reliable signals that a project is still being worked on.
The delay, stated plainly
New Atlas reported on 20 February 2026 that, if the campaign succeeded, the cooker should ship in June 2026.
Kickstarter’s own status panel on the campaign, last revised 6 May 2026, gives the current stage as preparing shipping logistics and setting up BackerKit for address confirmation. Address collection is an early step, not a late one — it happens before units move.
So: expected June, and as of 19 August the maker’s published status is still pre-shipping. That is roughly two months past the target, on a hardware project, which is unremarkable by crowdfunding standards and still worth knowing before you count on one.
What has happened since we first wrote this
Between 22 July and 8 August 2026 the maker posted six updates in a row, titled “It’s Here, and We’re Putting It to Work”, “Production & Shipping Update”, “SmoqeX in Action”, “You Asked for the Results”, “Another Real-World Cook: Chicken Wings” and “Pork Ribs Video”. The titles describe cooking with a finished unit.
We have not watched them, so we are not reporting what they show — only that the maker has moved from silence to a steady run of posts, which is the opposite of the pattern that usually precedes a campaign going quiet. The shipping status itself has not changed: Kickstarter’s panel still reads address collection, and no backer has the cooker.
What the campaign and its coverage state
None of these figures has been confirmed by anyone with the machine in a kitchen. They are what the campaign published and what New Atlas reported from it.
| What | Stated figure |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 42 × 42 × 42 cm (16 × 16 × 16 in) |
| Capacity | 24.6 litres (26 quarts) |
| Temperature range | Up to 500 °F (260 °C) |
| Pellet capacity | 500 g (16 oz) |
| Racks | Four, removable |
| Probe | Internal meat probe |
| Programming | Up to 12 hours |
| Campaign price | US$575 |
| Stated MSRP | US$998 |
| Power draw | Not reported |
| Weight | Not reported |
| Filtration specification | Not reported |
| Safety certifications | Not reported |
The last two gaps are the ones we would want closed before this thing sat on a kitchen counter. The entire premise is burning wood pellets indoors. How the smoke is filtered, what the filter costs to replace, how often, and which safety standard the appliance is certified against are the questions that separate this from an outdoor smoker, and we found no published answer to any of them.
Who has written about it
One outlet, and we need to unpack how it reported.
The New Atlas piece is by Shirl Leigh, published 20 February 2026 — a named writer at a publication with editorial staff. It discloses that New Atlas may earn commission from purchases made through its links.
The author does not state she used the cooker. The article notes instead that the product was field-tested by a barbecue expert. That is a tester the campaign names, not an independent one, and a maker-arranged demonstration is a different kind of evidence from a reviewer buying or borrowing a unit and reporting what happened.
Beyond that we found campaign trackers, aggregator listings and a press release. No independent account of the machine cooking anything exists that we could find.
What we could not verify
- Whether it works. No independent account of the machine cooking exists that we could find.
- Whether indoor smoking is practical. No filtration specification, no filter replacement cost, no interval, and no measurement of what reaches the room.
- Whether it is certified. No safety standard is named for an appliance that burns wood indoors.
- What it draws and what it weighs. Neither figure is published.
Reasons to keep watching
- A goal beaten thirty-four times over, at an average pledge near US$592 — buyers took this seriously
- 17 updates and a campaign page still being written on the day we read it
- Consumables already in stock, which is what a company does when production is real
- Coverage by a named writer at an established publication, with its interest disclosed
- 26 quarts, up to 500 °F, and a 500 g pellet load, all quoted as numbers rather than adjectives
Reasons to wait
- Nothing has shipped, roughly two months past the reported target
- The published status is still address collection, which is an early stage
- No filtration specification for an appliance whose entire purpose is burning wood indoors
- No safety certification named
- No independent account of the machine in use, the one test cited was arranged by the maker
- No power draw, no weight, no filter running cost
- The cooker is absent from the maker’s own shop while its accessories are on sale
Where this leaves a buyer
There is nothing to buy here today, which is why this page carries no purchase link. The campaign has closed, the target month has passed, and the published status has not moved. Worth watching if the idea appeals; not worth planning around until a shipping update appears.
FAQ
Can I buy one?
Not as we write. The campaign closed on 12 March 2026 and the maker’s shop does not list the cooker. Only accessories for it are on sale.
Is it safe to burn wood pellets indoors?
We cannot tell you. The maker has not published a filtration specification or named a safety certification, and no independent measurement exists that we found. That is the question to put to the company before ordering.
Will backers get theirs?
We do not know. The signs that usually accompany delivery are present — frequent updates, an active comment section, consumables in stock. The target month has passed and the published status has not reached shipping.
Is US$575 the price?
It was the campaign pledge level, quoted against a stated US$998 MSRP. Neither is a retail price you can pay today.
Why is there no score, and no link?
When it ships and can be bought, we will look again.
Loupe has not handled this product. Every figure above is linked to the source it came from.
