complete newb

hi all,im dave, I live on the coast of england. Thought about getting a bbq for some time and stumbled across smoking looked into it a bit more, not ever remember tasting genuine smoked food in my entire adult life i decided to give it a go and dip my toe in the water, i say toe as i didnt go out and buy a very expensive smoker, probably a mistake but hey ho,I purchased a offset smoker from kd and jay online, i went to season it yesterday and it leaks like a biyatch but ill see if i can make any mods to it.I had to season twice aswell, as the first time i soaked my wood chips for around 35mins before hand but placed them directly over the coals, which was fine at first and i could smell this lovely hickory smoke, then after about 5-10 mins it turned into a thick white nasty smelling smoke that just bellowed out of every orafic for about 10mins (the eye watering kinda smoke!)did it again but this time wrapped my chips in foil with holes in, was better, still not exact, guess im gonna have to play with tempim hoping to cook on it this weekend, going for chicken maybe a rib rack....got a dry rub sorted, debating whether to brine chicken before hand? and some home made mopping sauceanybody got any tips relating to the above feel free to helplink to the smokerhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Cylinder-Shaped-Luxury-Charcoal-Smoker/sim/B0058BRD7E/2cheers alldave