[campdude]

PitRow,
A couple of things... When I first got my bandera, I used it with no mods for quite a while. I was feeding it pretty frequently also. Temp control got easier as it built up more ash, as the ash kept the fire from breathing as well. I did a fire grate mod and WOW. Temps took off because of the better ventilation. I could run 235 - 250 with top all the way open and intake almost closed. I would suggest you build a fire basket. I almost fill it with K blue and wood and light about 1/2 to 3/4 of a chimney and dump it on the smoke chamber side so the fire has to burn back towards the vents. I usually cook at 275 to 300 now and have no problem holding those temps with the intake 2/3 to 3/4 shut. Nice clean fire and I get 4 to 6 hours of burn time depending on outside conditions.