Same here However following some of top pit masters in Texas, seems to be a little shift towards a little dirty smoke isn't that bad initially. I am seeing more and more run their pits dirty the first hour or two then go cleaner. Theory is meat and moist meat takes on the most smoke initially up till certain temp. I think there is a fine line for sure, especially with chicken IMO.
I see a lot of complaints of acrid smoke and how to mitigate it on smoker forums I'm on for the Weber bullet smokers. There is practically zero "bad smoke" from lump coal, and I've never seen someone complain of that dirty smoke using lump coal rather than briquettes. briquettes are loaded with fillers that seem to offgas pretty good for quite a while especially Kingsford brand, and although personally I do love that smell, it can taste kinda weird if you're overdoing it in a smoker.
I could see that perhaps. I was just sharing what the trend seems to be. Initially years ago it was taboo, oh no dirty smoke, have to run clean, blue smoke. Now you've got the top BBQ joints in Texas running dirty for the first hour or two. I personally like the more smoky flavor but there is certainly a fine line for sure and like I said especially with Chicken, you can over smoke that quick IMO.
I had scrounged a little old fashioned enclosed steel grill/fireplace when I helped my friend clean out his late mothers house last year. The hoarder in me hated to scrap it. I spotted it recently behind the shed and realized it might work for making charcoal. Gave it a shot this afternoon and it worked even though i "burnt" some of it as i waited too long to take it off the fire. Heat transfer had started it burning like charcoal. Only drawback is the size. Burn chamber 12" long by 8" diameter. Enough made for maybe a couple grillings for us. Fun experiment though. Any weekend I'm hanging around/smoking something I'll whip up a batch of charcoal. Good excuse to play with fire like many of us FHCers do and great use of the small hardwood chunks i generate. She likes cooking with lump charcoal vs briquettes as it makes more heat faster.
