Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Food Related => Topic started by: just4fn on August 15, 2022, 09:55:28 PM
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Just like the subject says. If you had to buy one or do it all over, would you buy a smoke tube or a smoke maze?
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I think I have both and have not used them in over 7 years.
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I only have the smoke tube. From what I can tell it adds very little if any smoke flavor.
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I have both plus another kind or two.
I use the maze with dust for doing cheese. I have not use my tube for a while. I will sometimes toss it in when I do jerky.
If you buy a tube buy a bag or two of wood chips and mix in with the pellets when using the tube. I think it burns better with the mix.
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I've got a tube and never use it. Makes lot of white smoke. Did not add any smokey flavor and was a pita to use. I think that the smoke flavor from a stick burner is because of the various volatile substances that are lost when wood is shredded to sawdust. I am happy with what the pellets provide.
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I see that others are noting no extra flavor from the tubes.
I had to use one all the time in my RT when I had it, if not it was pretty much like cooking it in the oven when it came to smoke flavor. I don't remember if I ever tried doing cheese with it. I know the maze and dust does flavor the cheese very well. My next cheese I will have to try the tube and see if it does
as well as the maze/dust combo.
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I too have both plus several others. I also have not used them in a while. When I did use them, I did perceive extra smoke flavor. My wife does not particularly care for smoke flavor, so I stopped using them. Additionally, using them adds another time-consuming step to the process. I still use them for cheese in the cool weather.
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I use my smoke tube if I don't feel like smoking steaks in the pellet grill before throwing it on the charcoal grill. My wife prefers steaks on charcoal for the sear. I'll smoke it for an hour then dump a lit chimney in the grill and then cook slow and sear. We like the combo of smoke and charcoal flavors.
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I have both, but don't use them.
I use a smoke box from Blazin'
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Doing BB ribs now on 1070, set at 225*. It put out blue smoke almost continuously without any additions. So if the smoke taste is negligible, then added pellet smoke bombs won't help. Perhaps it takes the chips or chunks to get more. Personally, I am satisfied with the taste I am getting.
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I have both. I use the maze every winter for cold smoking. I don’t think I have used the tube yet.
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Lotsa smoke, mild smoke smell and taste on my ribs (above). I've seen a couple of smoke gurus saying that using a heavy rub blocks smoke absorption. They also claim that salt and pepper only will allow good smoke absorption. You can add the rub or sauce near the end of the cook if desired. I have not tried this. I have watched Mad Scientist do spare ribs with just salt and pepper and get lots of smoke flavor (he says) and preferred them without a sauce at the end? However, he was using his large offset stick burner. Big difference I would say. ?
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Lot of smoke, no smoke, etc., etc. It is all subjective. Your tastes are different than mine are different than the next 20 people. At the end of the day, if you don't feel you taste enough smoke, then get an ancillary device to create more. My only question would be is your lack of taste of smoke related to a creosote that was part of what you thought was smoke flavor before you had a pellet grill?
I would recommend trying your pellet grill without an extra device for 25-50 cooks. If you are still not happy, then try an ancillary device. They are not that expensive so it is not like you are wasting a lot of money to try it. I am only recommending giving your grill time so that you truly can so you are not getting the smoke taste that you want.
I think most of us that have been doing this for awhile and have tried ancillary devices had similar thoughts. Not seeing enough smoke, not tasting enough smoke, etc. Then we realized the times we didn't take the time to use the ancillary device that the smoke flavor was still pretty good. Then we realized it wasn't worth the extra hassle to attempt to light the ancillary device, keep it smoldering, keep it from flaming, etc. and quit using them.
Experiment and figure out what is best for you.
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Lot of smoke, no smoke, etc., etc. It is all subjective. Your tastes are different than mine are different than the next 20 people. At the end of the day, if you don't feel you taste enough smoke, then get an ancillary device to create more. My only question would be is your lack of taste of smoke related to a creosote that was part of what you thought was smoke flavor before you had a pellet grill?
I would recommend trying your pellet grill without an extra device for 25-50 cooks. If you are still not happy, then try an ancillary device. They are not that expensive so it is not like you are wasting a lot of money to try it. I am only recommending giving your grill time so that you truly can so you are not getting the smoke taste that you want.
I think most of us that have been doing this for awhile and have tried ancillary devices had similar thoughts. Not seeing enough smoke, not tasting enough smoke, etc. Then we realized the times we didn't take the time to use the ancillary device that the smoke flavor was still pretty good. Then we realized it wasn't worth the extra hassle to attempt to light the ancillary device, keep it smoldering, keep it from flaming, etc. and quit using them.
Experiment and figure out what is best for you.
Ditto.
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Agree with Lew. I recall a lot of Q places with a lot of smoke on their products, that was probably creosote flavor. So strong that I did not go back for more in many cases. I was not complaining above, just trying to contribute.
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To me smoke is smoke if it has the right combustion. You can have a sooty smoke or a high heat smoke. Seems to me if the wood, what ever source that might be, chips, pellets, logs, sawdust is burning clean it should produce the same smoke look & flavor. Trig and Gray had a thing going 20 years ago where one cooked on pellets and one on the Jambo offset and all the comments I ever heard, including from Larry who took the class is there was no difference in smoke flavor!