Getting away from thin blue smoke

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el luchador

is Blowin Smoke!
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This may be controversial but long story made short /in my humble opinion/ i think thin blue smoke is overhyped.

when I had my POS(pitiful offset smoker) the goal was billowing white smoke. that's how my friends and I cooked. close the exhaust down and let the white smoke roll. I used pecan exclusively. back then we didnt know any better so we didnt know our food was bitter. we just thought it tasted smoky, and good.

when I built my first uds, I didnt know about thin blue smoke so I just dropped my last pecan split on the coals. those ribs were the best Ive ever tasted.

then I found out about thin blue smoke and realized my food had been bitter all those years and started chasing thin blue smoke. I even bought another offset with the goal being thin blue smoke.

it has taken me a long time to come to this conclusion but I no longer care about TBS. lol. and this is coming from someone who can cook with invisible smoke the whole length of a cook. I have found that for me, TBS = not smoky flavor. I dont think Im the only one here. I see all the threads about why dont I have enough smoke flavor.

I have gone back to putting a pecan split on my coals and I will tell you what, even after wrapping , there is plenty of smoke flavor in the meat.

Im El luchador and I like THIN WHITE SMOKE.
 
The Q I grew up eating from my Grandpa's pit was billowy smoked, and burp up smoke flavor 5 hours later. I enjoyed it. The food I started making on my wood pit was billowy smoked. I enjoyed it too. After I started getting more serious into Q, I heard the phrase "smoke is a seasoning, not the main ingredient" (probably from this group). That boggled my mind at first. Then, I started to cook Q that was lighter on the smoke, and included good seasonings. I really like it and so does my wife. :first: I like food heavier on the smoke, but I also like food that tastes good, with lighter smoke. I would eat Q at your house el lunchador, or someone who uses the lightest smoke possible, just as long as the food is flavorful and juicy.
 
When I was a youngster, using my Brinkman offset, I thought, if you didn't have clouds smoke billowing out of the chimney, you needed to add more wood. I would set and watch, and when the smoke started to thin, I would stoke the fire again. Even back then, I made what I think, was some pretty good Q. But there were times, where I would get an unpleasant, acrid taste to my food. I noticed it, mainly on briskets and ribs. At the time I would blame it on the rub or mop, I use to mop. I think the mop does contribute to the problem, since the wet meat, holds on to more of the smoke, but I have learned a lot over the years, and now know it was my cooking process. I do like my smoke on the heavy side, I am sure, that is because that is how I ate it for so many years, but I have learned there is a happy medium. I will say, if you are going to cook like that, you need to have good air flow, and be very selective on your wood.
 
This is going to hurt, but I have to agree with El Luchador. Getting TBS with my smoker is very difficult and it makes temperature control nearly impossible. So I deal with the white smoke and avoid all the pitfalls by using less wood. I've got 70 reviews on Facebook, 69 five star reviews and one four star review so it seems to be working for me.
 
Simply put, you Sir are a tool.


You have a forum full of the best BBQ folks ever to assemble in one place and instead of participating and attempting to learn, you continue to put up asinine statements, just to draw controversy.



Every. Single. Post.


In almost 10 years on this forum I don't believe I've ever used the "ignore" function on here, but you are tempting me....


:wacko:


Okay, now to address your latest asinine statement.


Thin Blue does matter. White smoke don't matter.


In other words, TBS is one sign you have a clean burning fire, but it is not the end all, be all.
I always tell people not to worry about the color of your smoke, worry more about having the proper draft in your smoker.

White smoke, blue smoke is all good.

Black smoke is concerning.


Never, ever stop the flow of smoke in your smoker (the draft). Exhaust more, not less.
 
Last edited:
travismagee said:
Pablo Picasso said it best. 'Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.' In your case.. learn how to achieve the thin blue smoke and then break the rule to acquire the taste YOU prefer. BBQ is an art and we should all go at it that way.
Click to expand...

Great quote- thanks for sharing. very apt.
 
SirPorkaLot said:
Simply put, you Sir are a tool.


You have a forum full of the best BBQ folks ever to assemble in one place and instead of participating and attempting to learn, you continue to put up asinine statements, just to draw controversy.



Every. Single. Post.


In almost 10 years on this forum I don't believe I've ever used the "ignore" function on here, but you are tempting me....


:wacko:
Click to expand...

lol @ the amount of irony in this post.

you should ignore me since I upset your world view so much .

lol
 
medic92 said:
This is going to hurt, but I have to agree with El Luchador. Getting TBS with my smoker is very difficult and it makes temperature control nearly impossible. So I deal with the white smoke and avoid all the pitfalls by using less wood. I've got 70 reviews on Facebook, 69 five star reviews and one four star review so it seems to be working for me.
Click to expand...

lol. let me know if you need some pain meds :razz:

thanks for the insight. I know when I used to go to this one barbecue joint out of the way one of the things I liked best was the food was a smoky as the place. just walking into the joint would make one's clothes smell like smoke and the food was equally as smoky , which was a good thing.
 
jermoQ said:
The Q I grew up eating from my Grandpa's pit was billowy smoked, and burp up smoke flavor 5 hours later. I enjoyed it. The food I started making on my wood pit was billowy smoked. I enjoyed it too. After I started getting more serious into Q, I heard the phrase "smoke is a seasoning, not the main ingredient" (probably from this group). That boggled my mind at first. Then, I started to cook Q that was lighter on the smoke, and included good seasonings. I really like it and so does my wife. :first: I like food heavier on the smoke, but I also like food that tastes good, with lighter smoke. I would eat Q at your house el lunchador, or someone who uses the lightest smoke possible, just as long as the food is flavorful and juicy.
Click to expand...

I love it. and I agree that smoke is an ingredient, but I think its the main ingredient. Everything else I can achieve in a slow cooker.
 
SirPorkaLot said:
Simply put, you Sir are a tool.


You have a forum full of the best BBQ folks ever to assemble in one place and instead of participating and attempting to learn, you continue to put up asinine statements, just to draw controversy.



Every. Single. Post.


In almost 10 years on this forum I don't believe I've ever used the "ignore" function on here, but you are tempting me....


:wacko:
Click to expand...


I first agreed with you John but the more I read his posts the more i suspect he is learning so much everyday that processing all this new information can get overwhelming. It's like when a sinner finally finds religion. They are so excited to have seen the light and spred the word that they often misinterpret the knowledge that has recently enlightened them. Every new discovery is to be touted from the mountain top ad nauseam. It's just a phase.....he should grow out of it.
 
smoke ninja said:
I first agreed with you John but the more I read his posts the more i suspect he is learning so much everyday that processing all this new information can get overwhelming. It's like when a sinner finally finds religion. They are so excited to have seen the light and spred the word that they often misinterpret the knowledge that has recently enlightened them. Every new discovery is to be touted from the mountain top ad nauseam. It's just a phase.....he should grow out of it.
Click to expand...

I hope you are correct.
 
smoke ninja said:
I first agreed with you John but the more I read his posts the more i suspect he is learning so much everyday that processing all this new information can get overwhelming. It's like when a sinner finally finds religion. They are so excited to have seen the light and spred the word that they often misinterpret the knowledge that has recently enlightened them. Every new discovery is to be touted from the mountain top ad nauseam. It's just a phase.....he should grow out of it.
Click to expand...

I understand the intent of your post. but that is not the case. I think the point of the forum is to discuss and share knowledge. some people do not like any point of view that contradicts their own point of view and they will scream loudly to silence any dissenting pov as we have just seen . since this is a discussion forum that will not stop me from posting my points of view.

the guy who sits next to me at work will get so angry whenever I say I like my steak medium or medium well. I mean, he gets bent out of shape. it sounds childish but it happens often. It doesnt take away anything from me, but it sure does ruin his mood when we start talking steak :D
 
m-fine said:
I hope you are correct.
Click to expand...

Well I'm never wrong......once I thought I was but it turns out I was mistaken

He's not entirely off base. Smoke flavor can be too much or too little based on preference. I have had too clean a fire for brisket before. With ribs I prefer it clean but there is a balance to brisket. Still I prefer to see thin blue not white but white can come from drippings or even when it's cold you get white from condensation.

EL's story on the smokey bbq joint is not my thing. A bbq joint should smell like burning hardwood not smoke. If a place smells of smoke I back away slowly.

I like to say bbq is not smoking. Smoke is a byproduct of the process of bbq. It adds flavor to the meat.
 
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