Amount of wood to add to an electric smoker confusion:

[keitht2]

I'm having difficulty understanding why you can only add a few ounces of wood to an electric smoker, so it doesn't make the meat taste bad. But, on a stick burner smoker, you add tons of wood. What is it about an electric smoker that more wood ruins the meat, versus the stick burner that adding more wood, doesn't ruin the meat?

 

[clifish]

I would guess the amount of airflow on a stick burner is way more than an electric.

 

[crankybuzzard]

The amount of air flow AND in an offset, or stick burner, the wood is doing just that, it's burning. In an electric, the wood is smoldering.

The electric smokers smaller air flow, "tight" cabinets, and no flame to combust the off gasses will contribute to creosote, and has in the past, contributed to the generation of wood gas which can ignite very violently.