The mod was the best thing I ever did for my MES smoker. The smoke taste is infinitely better, and I hardly have to work at all for many simple smokes. The convenience is not just from avoiding the constant chip loader feeding, but is also due to the fact that I don't have to open the MES to adjust or check on the
AMNPS, and also that I can let the residual
AMNPS chips burn out while I am already cleaning out the smoker.
The popcorn can is, IMHO, the best enclosure I've seen posted. I say this because getting a mailbox that is made of the right material is tough: plastic won't work at all, and anything with a coating or painting is bad. Also, mailboxes are expensive. By contrast, as you saw from my links, you can get a plain popcorn/candy tin for about $12, and if you receive a "Popcorn Factory" or similar gift this season, you may have a tin already hanging around. You then buy two $4 elbows at Home Depot, giving you a total cost of under $20, excluding the
AMNPS. If you buy the little filters, they are another $3-4.
The only two things I might do differently would be to add some sort of adjustable air vent, so I could increase or decrease the air flow. I was waiting to find a really good post about how to adjust the combustion, inside of any smoking device, to get the optimal airflow for creating tasty smoke, so I could have some intelligence behind my adjustable vent construction. I think this will be a good addition, once I know how to proceed.
The other thing would be to get a can that is about 1" wider. My
AMNPS only goes down into the can about 3/4 of the way. The good news with this arrangement is that there is plenty of airflow underneath; the bad news is that I think I am not getting quite as much smoke deposition on the side wall as I would get if the tray were down another few inches. However, this is so minor that I'm not tempted in the least to re-build it, and I don't think it would really make that much difference.