Thanks for the reply.
I tried that. I'm running a ZGrill 450B, so I did the first hour (might have been 1:15, I got busy) at the Smoke setting, which I think oscillates between 160 and 180, then turned it up to 300 for the rest of the cook. Skin was still inedible, and the smoke profile on the chicken thighs was pretty weak even for pellets (contrast with the pork chops I did at 225 a few days later which were quite good). Maybe 300 wasn't high enough, but at that point I might as well finish it in the oven since there won't be any smoke flavor above that from pellets.
Since the cook is so short I'm interested in trying the smoke tube and running like 375 or so (I have one, but have rarely used it), but I'm not sure where to put it. I'm running a small pellet grill that has only one rack. Maybe some form of elevated rack you can get 3rd party? Or maybe along the back wall? Left side will mess with the temp sensor, and right side will go right out the stack.
I'm also wondering if I should go the other direction. Suzy at Hey Grill Hey does hers at 275, but she oils her skin first and gets bite-through, which works for me. She says you still get smoke at 275 (it's always exciting when a youtube personality responds to your questions).
The issue is that the fam is only going to eat so many chicken thighs, so I can't run continual experiments.