Double Smoke Ham Questions

I usually run my WSM without the water in the pan and use a clay pot base instead on a double smoked ham cook, but there is no reason you can't use water.  I like having the mass of either the water or clay (or even sand like  some people use) to help buffer the heat swings. I think the mass makes the temps easier to control.

I do spritz it with a mixture of pineapple juice, a little brown sugar and either some Jack Daniels or Makers Mark. I heat the pineapple juice just enough to dissolve the sugar and then add the "secret ingredient" just before putting in the spray bottle.  So you are on the money with that one.  I usually buy a spiral sliced ham and try to sneak a little of the spray between the layers at least once during the re-heat/cook. Then just apply a glaze like normal towards the end and cook a little longer to caramelize the glaze.  I guess I need to look at Jeff's version.  I had not previously done so as I had a system for hams already.

I will be doing one for Easter this year also.  My relatives called and said I was assigned the ham, the wife the rolls (she is a school lunch room lady and knows the "super secret school lunch room roll" recipe by memory).  Oh yeah, they will not let us in the door without pimento cheese sandwiches, so that's a given.   The past couple of gatherings where I've done my double smoked hams there was also the "usual" reheated sliced ham.  They wipe mine out and there is usually lots of the plain ham left so this time I was told to get a big ham and do it all.

Here are a couple I have photos of from prior smokes.

You need to consider that when applying anything to the meat after starting the smoke you will lose a lot of smoke chamber heat from opening the smoker which will increase cooking time due to temp recovery time.

The water pan doesn't necessarily need to have water in it, but it needs to be in the proper position in the smoke because it acts as a baffle to give you indirect heat in the smoker and to prevent drippings from catching on fire on/near the burner. It should have some sort of clean/seasoned thermal mass such as bricks, washed sand or pea gravel if you don't use water, or damage to the water pan from high heat could result. Thermal mass also helps to reduce temp swings, but will not reduce high-temp spikes like water can. If you chose to omit the water in the pan, you could place a foil catch on top of the thermal mass for drippings. I do this quite often lately, adding water to the foil catch so I have a slightly elevated humidity in the smoke chamber for the first few hours to improve smoke reaction. When the water evaporates from the foil catch, I leave it alone to create a dry smoke chamber which tightens the meat's surface fibers to aid in moisture retention. This also develops a dandy bark on the meat, btw. I refer to it as a wet-to-dry smoke chamber. BTW, spraying or mopping also keeps the meats surface porous for increased smoke reaction, but if done for too long, it can increase internal moisture evaporation from the meat.

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If you need more explanation on how humidity effects the smoke reaction and interior meat moisture when finished cooking, check this thread...it's with a pork butt, though the I have used this method for many other hot-smoked meats as well:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...mmed-butt-wet-dry-smoke-chamber-q-view-method

If you right-click on the finished pics and select to open in a new tab, then zoom in on the pic you can really see how this method can effect the moisture content in the finished product.

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So, I recommend that you read through this thread, and possibly, the precursor to it where I originally began developing this method, which is linked in the above thread on the first post Then decide which way you would like to go regarding spraying or not, or using the wet-to-dry smoke chamber method. Also, you could go with a straight dry smoke chamber, bite the bullet on smoke chamber heat loss and spray every hour for about 4 hours, then stop spaying and just let it cook to finished internal temp...just a thought.

Let me know if you need any clarification on any of this information...it's a lot to digest in one read, so look it over and give it some time to soak in.

Double-smoked hams are fantastic!!! It should be a dandy Easter dinner coming your way!

Eric