M
Matt_A
Guest
Not only is the meat affected as to moisture, the steam acts as a natural filter as to the smoke.
Probably why it's been used for many, many thousands of years (first found and dated to about 4000 BC: about 6000 years ago) in pipes.
The moisture in the smoker doesn't 'add' moisture to the meat, what it does is prevent the cooling effect of rapidly evaporating moisture. Think about walking in 15% humidity at 110º, and then walking in that same temperature at 90% humidity. You'll sweat just as much in both cases, but in the low humidity your sweat evaporates very rapidly and provides a surface cooling effect. The high humidity prevents that evaporative cooling, thus you notice the sweat rolling down into your eyes and it 'feels' hotter.
The water pan also acts as a heat sink to moderate the cooking temperature. It takes tons of energy to heat water to the boiling point and even more to generate steam. So part of the radiant heat from your fire gets used to heat the water and create steam and never gets to your meat.