On one side it’s great, but on the other you have a super small fire and when you add chunks of wood you get some pretty stagnant smoke. Just not my thing anymore. I know guys may disagree with me, but that’s ok
The problem is when Kamados were becoming a big thing all of the forums push the idea of light one small area and add the wood chunks and let it come to temp. Even the manufactures pushed that method.
This technique was standard as a way of preventing the fire from becoming too large and the grill becoming too hot. Once a Kamado gets hot or you overshoot it takes a while to get it back down to a low temp because a Kamado holds heat so well. It works to a degree if you are patient enough to let the fire build and the grill to come to temp.
The problem though is most are impatient and when the grill is at temp they put the meat on. Then they put way too much wood on the fire and now they put the food on, and the grill is pumping out dirty smoke. Like stated above, the fire is too small and the amount of wood is too much.
I light the grill in several spots and leave the lid open and bottom vent open for enough time so that several areas are burning well. Then put a few wood chunks on and then the grates. The wood chunks are strategically placed so as to burn at different times as the fire grows. Most Kamados burn to the back as time progresses.
On really long smokes I use foil packets with soaked wood chips. I know sacrilege. I see it all the time on the Kamodo forums. Acrid taste....too smokey etc.
I have a Vision Kamado and have been using it for 5 years now and I have zero issues with smoke flavor. You can make the food as smokey as you want if you have common sense and learn the grill. I made a few mistakes when I first got my Kamado. But then I did my own thing based on my experience with the grill and taking my experience from using other grills.
A Kamado is one of the easiest grills to smoke on for hours and hours. I've gone over 20 hours smoking on the same basket of lump. I can have smoke for a few hours or many hours depending on the setup I use.
If your food is tasting too smokey or dirty or whatever....your doing it wrong. Like they say. Do you have 10 years experience or 1 year times 10. I never have stagnant smoke.
Get the cheapest ceramic Kamado you can. Most come with a lifetime warranty on ceramics. No sense paying for the name brand as they are almost completely the same as far as quality and function.
