Hi There!

Hi Robin,

1. No you do not have to put water in when you're smoking. I've never used water in either my MES-30 or MES-40. Some people put sand in their water pan to create a heat sink so the temperature recovers more quickly when they open/close the door (for whatever reason). I cover mine with foil and leave it empty.

2. Many MES smokers use the AMNPS or some variant there of for generating smoke. I have both the AMNPS (8" rectangle?) and the 18" tube smoker I use with my mailbox mod. I use the pellet smokers for long smokes (pork butt or brisket) or when I want to cold smoke and keep the MES chamber as cool as possible. When I do short smokes (like the turkey breast yesterday) I use the chip feeder.

3. I've kept my internals lined with foil. Makes clean up a snap.

Suggestions for questions you didn't ask.

1. MES chamber temps are generally consistent, but occasionally not accurate. You may wish to get a Maverick 2 probe system so you can monitor the chamber temp and meat internal temperature without having to sit on top of the smoker. Other options are the iGrill/iGrill2 and probably others. Check your Maverick probes in boiling water to see how close they are to actual temp. Remember that water boils at different temperatures based on altitude. 

2. You may want to look at building a mailbox mod. Great conversation starter. [emoji]128540[/emoji]

3. Sooner or later you'll purchase a pellet system from Todd. You may as well make it sooner. Great quality and service.

I'm sure others will jump in with other ideas. 

It's my opinion only, but my answers are yes, yes, AND yes BTW I'm still trying to master smoking with pellets in my MES. best results so far seems to be a mixture of chips and pellets, maybe a 3 to 1 ratio of pellets and chips but be careful too many pellets = a sizable fire [emoji]128293[/emoji] and it actually blew my door open.