[qman]

If your "health Department inspector" does not understand smoking's role as a preservative, then the problem is with her education, not with the process. It goes without saying(sic) that smoking is a preservative.
Country hams, hung with out refrigeration for years? duh!!!

Would she also not accept a piece of pork, cured in a heavy salt brine, in a big barrel, for a long while (pickled, in other words), unless it was coolered?