I have been using pecan wood and trying to maintain small hot fires. My ribs still comes out with a chemical taste and kinda burns the mouth. When you build a fire how long do you let it burn for before putting on the meat? Reduce it to just coals? To avoid excessive smoke do you place one stick at a time on? I am getting a little discouraged here any input would help. In addition I notice at times my smoker billows with smoke after I place more wood in the box. Adding too much at a time?