Walter "Stump" McDowell was in the heating and air conditioning business for approximately 19 years. His extensive training and knowledge of air flow led him to start building smokers for his passion of BBQ Competition cooking.

He started this venture in 1995 with his 1st smoker and progressed until early 2003 when he developed the prototype of the Stump Smoker.

By 2005, Stump was and is the talk of the competition circuit. People from coast to coast have been winning with his design and competitors have been known to drive hundreds of miles just to see one in operation. Using his smoker a minimum of 100 teams have placed in contests and about 25 Grand Champions have walked the stage using a Stump Smoker. His gravity fed models have set the standard.

In early 2008, Stump's announced a new business partner, Viking Range Corporation, the Greenwood, Mississippi, based manufacturer of super premium professional type appliances for the home.

The partnership with Viking brings additional manufacturing capacity to Stump's in response to the increased demand the line is experiencing. One of the primary benefits from the partnership is a reduction in lead times for Stump's smokers and speedier shipment of the product to the end-user.

Stump's will continue to produce the finest hand-built smokers in the industry under the personal supervision and expertise of it's founder.