Or, if you peek to see what is going on, if the drippings are not too well done,I would suggest to think about taking the drippings (butter, bacon juice, bbq, rub stuff, onion juice, etc.) and pour back into the top again to recycle the best of the best of the good stuff then try dipping in what is left over at the last.
See how this forums works? At least for me, every smoke is an experiment. Thats why we share.
Something I have hot seen addressed with smoking meat that I am starting to paying attention to is Density Altitude, in particular, AMBIANT HUMIDITY with all my smokes in all my devices for meats, ribs in particular, brisket, PB, chicken and fish..
As it stands now (I am retired and change to many other of my options frequently) I plan to smoke another cabbage tomorrow. I have posted what I will do differently above and give it a try. I do not plan on having saginificant drippings. My firebox is directly below (2-3 ft) , so if I have butter/bacon drippings it will add to the smoke. If it does not work out as planned, I will post my results and post what I might adjust next time.
Interestingly, with all the other cabbage posts here, I almost did not start this post because of so many other posts already here of cabbage. I think my response will be the #22 comment. Wow This is a testimonial of continued sharing and keeping new information alive.
801 Driver, I stall at 26 unless the density altitude (combination of temperature, air pressure, and Humidity) is different than standard conditions, and would suggest 94% nitro with current track conditions..
Keep on having fun. If it ain't smoken, keep your eye on it, it might be broken.