Looking for more smoke flavor from my stick burner

How old is your pit?
It is true if it is very new you will not have the most 'smoke flavor' impact but IMO that is not something that takes years but rather a handful of good long cooks to settle.

Does your wood have bark or did you strip it off?

I used to run very smokey, the opposite of you. I didn't want to, I just didn't know up from down.
During that time, I would strip off all the bark to try and help .... it is easy with well seasoned wood, it will fall just right off.

As I got better I still stayed with no bark .... food was certainly very good ... then one cook, I told myself ... just leave that bark on .... ten hours later I immediately realized my prior 'good cooks' had been missing something!

Sort of relevant to this discussion...the one huge tip I got from Franklin is about leaving the firebox door open throughout your cook. I find that I get the clear smoke like 90% of the time that way. It's weird but if I get a huge temp spike I'll deal with it by re-arranging (or even removing) a split or two in the firebox rather than by closing the door and shutting off the oxygen. I have noticed a better quality to the final product, with less bitterness to the smoke but no decline in flavor.

TxQGuy said:

Sort of relevant to this discussion...the one huge tip I got from Franklin is about leaving the firebox door open throughout your cook. I find that I get the clear smoke like 90% of the time that way. It's weird but if I get a huge temp spike I'll deal with it by re-arranging (or even removing) a split or two in the firebox rather than by closing the door and shutting off the oxygen. I have noticed a better quality to the final product, with less bitterness to the smoke but no decline in flavor.

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Once the fire is established (before meat goes on), I get clear on smoke 99% of the time with the door closed.

Yes, you should control temp with your fire management and should never choke the fire in a stick burner, but you can still shut the door and make airflow adjustments without choking the fire. At least in a well designed pit with enough air flow, the door can be closed AND the vents can be adjusted to less than full open. It is one of the tools you have available to you as a pit master that way too many people seem to ignore these days.

TxQGuy said:

Sort of relevant to this discussion...the one huge tip I got from Franklin is about leaving the firebox door open throughout your cook. I find that I get the clear smoke like 90% of the time that way. It's weird but if I get a huge temp spike I'll deal with it by re-arranging (or even removing) a split or two in the firebox rather than by closing the door and shutting off the oxygen. I have noticed a better quality to the final product, with less bitterness to the smoke but no decline in flavor.

Click to expand...

His cookers don't have intakes. You can but don't need to leave the door open on a cooker that draws properly.

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This is a strange question...


Most have that problem with their poopers...

TxQGuy said:

It's weird but if I get a huge temp spike I'll deal with it by re-arranging (or even removing) a split or two in the firebox rather than by closing the door and shutting off the oxygen. I have noticed a better quality to the final product, with less bitterness to the smoke but no decline in flavor.

Click to expand...

It should have the opposite effect. Cutting off the oxygen should starve the fuel and make bitter, dirty smoke.

Sometimes I don't taste smoke very well after tending a fire and breathing smoke all day. Some fellers on here will shower and change after cooking and say they can then taste the smoke, which makes sense to me. I'm a lazy sumbich so I haven't tried that, esp. if it isn't the day for my annual bath.