I've done some things which give results contradictory to some of the above statements.
I've started my smokes with a cold smoke chamber 80-90% of the time for the past 15-18 months, in my SNP with a propane burner and with charcoal briquettes. With either of my factory vertical gassers, and with my charcoal Gourmet. When I say cold smoke chamber, I mean stone-cold...no fire. And, I get the best smoke reaction with the meat using this method. A smaller, hotter burning charcoal fire to get things going (1/2 a chimney of briqs) with a chuck of smoke wood close by on the side of the fire to get the smoke going, then add more hot coals as chamber temps are on the rise. When I'm getting close to my target chamber temp, I close down my intake draft to my known set-points, give or take a crack based on ambient temps, and let it ride from there while I continue to monitor chamber temps until it's stable. It may take 30-40 minutes to reach target temps from the time I first put the coals to the fire box, and on a few occasions, up to an hour.
I've never had a bitter taste or a numbing/tingling sensation on the lips, tongue or inside the mouth, and most of my best smokes have been started this way. This method is not limited to only verticals or horizontals, propane fired or charcoal. I've run my SNP with a propane burner for over a year before going back to charcoal with it, using the same cold start-up. My GOSM and Smoke Vaults gave the same results as well, so there seems to be no bias towards a particular type of fuel or configuration.
If you have a creosote issue, it's not because of the type of smoker or fuel. It's either inadequate venbtilation of the smoke chamber, or incomplete combustion of the fuel. Adding cold solid fuel directly to the fire after the meat has been place on the cooking grates can result in creosote because the cold fuels will smoke as they heat up prior to actually beginning to burn. If you add pre-heated or burning solid fuels to the fire, you can avoid that source of creosote. As an example, when you start a
charcoal chimney, look at the billowing white smoke it generates until the coals have heated up a good amount. Then, notice how the smoke gradually disappears as all the coals begin burning. When they're all glowing red or are covered with grey ash, you'll have no more smoke.
The only issues I've ever had with starting a smoke with a cold smoke chamber was water condensation from having a water pot directly over a charcoal fire or propane burner which began to steam-off water before the chamber temps were high enough to support the relative humidity coming into the inlet from the fire box to the smoke chamber. This was my first cold-weather experience with my modded SNP. The lesson learned there was to leave out the water pot until the chamber temps were at least 175-200*. Then, by the time the water had begun to steam-off, the chamber temps were well above the dew-point resulting from the water vapor being introduced into the smoke chamber.
Eric