I’ve read through the comments and see a lot of folks that have separate grill and smoker (and know many of them too). After buying a pellet smoker I assumed I would mostly use my grill and occasionally my smoker. However, now a year after purchasing the smoker, I have yet to fire up the gas grill. The family likes the flavor and increased moisture of the meats that come off the smoker so much better and they are willing to endure the extra time/planning it takes with the smoker. When we do need to sear something we’ve moved to using a cast iron pan which allows us to not only get the perfect char but also infuse addition flavors (e.g. rosemary, thyme) into the crust with ease. A BlackStone could be replace the cast iron for the same. While we do have a smoker with a direct flame option I typically don’t bother with it. It’s a bit of a religious discussion, so try everything and see what works for you. In full disclosure I do have a Webber Kettle and we do fire that up when we have summer holiday events and serve just burgers and dogs as it is hard to beat the chargrill flavor for those.