Wood chips and pellets question

[rico334]

I have been using mesquite wood chips in my Master Forge smoker and usually during a 3-4 hour smoke, I generally have to add a full scoop of chips each hour to keep the smoke going.

I've got a buddy that has some kind of really high dollar smoker that uses pellets instead of chips. Will these pellets work in my smoker and is one better than the other ?

[MossyMO]

Pellets in a smoke generator will get you more consistent, quality smoke than wood chips for a longer period of time in between refills. Pellets in a 5"X8" maze smoker can smoke as long as 11 hours on just less than a pound of pellets. Pellets in a 12" tube smoker can smoke up to 6 hours on less than a pound of pellets. The tube smoker puts out much more smoke than the the maze smoker so would think with your Master Forge the maze smoker would be the best choice. What is nice about the maze smoker also is if you want more smoke you can light both ends of it, it will cut your smoke time before refilling in half though before refilling it.

[Richtee]

And in addition to what Mr Mossy said... contrary to popular belief... you don't ALWAYS need smoke going on...especially on longer cooks. You might be surprised at the little difference it makes cutting back on chips/chunks. Or in some cases... the big difference for the better...yes, you CAN smoke things too heavily. I learned that a while ago.

[walley_eye]

In my Master Forge smoker I use the snake method with royal oak briquettes and what I do is I put my soaked wood chips on top of the coal so as the coal burns so does the wood creating smoke during the whole smoking cycle until you run out of coal.

Admittedly I haven't used a full snake 180 degrees around so I'm not sure how long my smokes could last.