Hello from Kiel

Welcome aboard! If the BBQ "experts" have a problem with your lack of a smoke ring, invite them to open their own restaurant and try to maintain quality and consistency on a wood or charcoal smoker. Then remind them that the KCBS has dropped the presence of a smoke ring from it's list of judging criteria.

There are a lot of people here who use electric smokers and by all estimates, get fantastic results. There's some discussion as well of adding crumbled charcoal to the wood box in the smoker to generate the required gases to produce the smoke ring, but I have no personal experience as to whether or not that works.

Long and short is, if you're getting the flavor and texture you want, you don't need a smoke ring to prove that it's real BBQ.

Good luck in your efforts!

EDIT:

Just reading in another thread about adding cherry Jell-O to rubs. That might be a way to get a unique flavor as well as a fake smoke ring.

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

Happy smoken.

David

Welcome aboard, PJ!  You've found a great place for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc.  There are plenty of friendly, knowledgeable folks who really enjoy helping one another.  Looking forward to your contributions to the forums.

Red

Welcome. It sounds like you already have a good head start.

I just started smoking last fall and didn't have much success until I found this forum and got help and guidance from the kind members of this forum. If you are running a restaurant you will find many inspirations here for different smoked dishes. My list of things to try is getting really long!

I look forward to learning from your posts.

Disco

to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! Would you mind updating your profile to show the other SMF members where you are located?  Might meet a few neighbors!

You should sign up for Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course, and it's great!  This is chock full of great information....no matter what your experience level might be!

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per Jeff. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat