Inexpensive or Quality Pellets in Hopper When Using a Smoke Tube?

[BondMan007]

I'm new to pellet smokers and I've been searching everywhere for an answer to this. To get more smoke flavor, I am now using a smoke tube with either pellets and/or wood chips. At higher temps, I understand that the pellet brand/wood type doesn't matter nearly as much since there is less smoke generated. Here is where the smoke tube comes in - load it with good qualify 100% hardwood pellets and/or chips which makes sense. So basically, use the cheaper stuff in the hopper for higher temp cooks.

But what about lower temp cooks? If using a smoke tube as described above, does it really impact the flavor and BTU performance if I also use the better qualify (and usually more expensive) pellets in the hopper? If I did use better pellets in the hopper such as Lumberjack, would the smoke tube be needed as much or at all?

 

[oregonrider]

I use the same pellets in the hopper & the tube. Bear Mountain. They ship bags free.

 

[tallbm]

I'm new to pellet smokers and I've been searching everywhere for an answer to this. To get more smoke flavor, I am now using a smoke tube with either pellets and/or wood chips. At higher temps, I understand that the pellet brand/wood type doesn't matter nearly as much since there is less smoke generated. Here is where the smoke tube comes in - load it with good qualify 100% hardwood pellets and/or chips which makes sense. So basically, use the cheaper stuff in the hopper for higher temp cooks.

But what about lower temp cooks? If using a smoke tube as described above, does it really impact the flavor and BTU performance if I also use the better qualify (and usually more expensive) pellets in the hopper? If I did use better pellets in the hopper such as Lumberjack, would the smoke tube be needed as much or at all?

Hi there and welcome!

I don't own a pellet smoker but read almost all the pellet smoker posts on here so know that.
However I do run an electric smoker so I can speak to the act of separating heat generation and smoke generation because that is what I do with my AMNPS tray.

I believe no matter what, if you are doing smoke generation with quality pellets like Lumberjack in your tube you are going to always win on flavor.
If you want to rock lumberjack in the hopper and in the tube on lower temp smokers, you are still going to win on flavor BUT will burning up your good flavor pellets cause a hit or even a loss to the wallet.

What those conditions understood I think you always win when running running well performing pellets that produce good/ok/negligible flavor pellets in the hopper BUT are in expensive so that you always win with the hit to your wallet. It seems Pit Boss Competition Blend falls into this category where you can get them all over the country at about $14-17 for a 40 pound bag. I believe they are reported to burn well and are mild to negligible on flavor when used alone.

I know they are mild on flavor when I use them in my AMNPS tray, yep I use them there where I blend them 50/50 with 100% Hickory pellets. So I win both with flavor and with hit to the wallet in this case :D

What does all this mean? For me it means going simple with max wins on flavor and with the wallet.
Cheap well burning/performing pellets in the hopper with ok flavor (Pit Boss Competition Blend) and high quality 100% Lumberjack (or make your own Lumberjack blends) in the pellet tube for flavor.

I hope this info helps and hopefully others who run these configurations with a pellet smoker will chime in to confirm/deny/add-to what I'm stating :D

 

[BigW.]

I use Lumberjack in both. I'm not fiddling with 2 different bags. If I'm wanting a high heat grill, I'll use the Kettle.

 

[normanaj]

The only advice I can offer you is that I use a tube as my primary smoke generator in an electric and I always the best pellet available to me and that would be Lumberjack.

 

[chopsaw]

I don't need to run a smoke source in mine , because the Weber's put a great smoke profile on the food .
I buy mostly B&B which I like , but have recently been able to get Lumberjack . I like them as well .

I also have bear mountain , pitboss and some others .

I will load the hopper with the better pellets in the bottom for running the start of a cook , and the other pellets on top , to finish up the cook .

Truth be told , whatever is closest to the smoker is what goes in the hopper .

To answer your question , run the best pellets you can in both .

 

[DougE]

My Camp Chef is able to provide decent smoke by design, so I mostly don't run a tube when it's running (mostly use a tube with dust when cold smoking with the grill off). If I do run an additional smoke tube, I run the same as what I have in the hopper.

 

[DougE]

Pellet smokers, by design, make the most smoke at lower temps so it is of benefit, smoke wise, to start your cook at the lowest setting and bump the temp up after an hour or two if time allows.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I run mostly bear mountain and royal oak charcoal pellets. If I'm wantin a particular wood flavor I stuff that flavor along with wood chips in a smoke tube.

 

[Fueling Around]

I've tried a lot of pellets and blends in the hopper and smoke tube.
Finally settled on Bear Mountain Oak in the hopper. I use whatever flavor Lumberjack in the smoke tube compliments the meat I smoke. My pooper does a terrible job at low temp so rarely used below 250°

 

[Randy1]

I do not use a smoke tube. I do use only quality pellets like Oklahoma Joe's and Bear Moutain.

On higher temperature grilling try Bear Moutain Chop House which has a stronger smoke flavor.

 

[mike243]

If your looking to get the most smoke flavor Shag bark and pellets in the tube,I also spritz often, lifting the lids not as problematic as other smoker styles. I use the same pellets and don't mess with other brands normally, like to see what flavor profile each have, mixing them makes it hard to replicate cooks,

 

[schlotz]

Welcome to SMF from the great state of Indiana. Glad you are here.

I'll leave the choice of wood (flavor so to speak) for others to debate. This is another topic one can easily get into the weeds on. For me, I've gone through a number of brands over the years and the one thing that's important is how they perform in the smoker. I'm on a MAK and of all of them the worst turned out to be Bear Mountain. Not because of the smoke provided but the amount of ash it left behind. After all the trials I've settled on Lumberjack in the hopper and tube, which isn't used much anymore. These days I spend zero time worrying about pellets and instead concentrate on how the protein of choice is being smoking.

 

[nchapelheel]

I use pit boss pellets for the heat and better pellets for the tube. Just this week I bought
some Royal Oak 100% charcoal pellets. I will use them for heat without the tube to see
if the flavor profile works. If it does well, those will the be only pellets that I use on the
Green Mountain grill.

 

[bill1]

I'm pretty happy with the Dirt-Cheap Expert Grill Walmart pellets. But when I've had bad pellets to just "use up", (and I have some old bags of Traeger-brand pellets I put in that category) I put them in the hopper where they're mostly being used for heat and put my favorites into the purely smoke-flavor generators.

 

[Kevin Braker]

Ok, Im going to be that guy. Walmarts Expert Grill Hickory and Oak pellets are really good. For $6.88 for a 20 pound bag. There is a bit of dust in the bottom of the bag, but the run a bit hot and consistent. I have tubes for chips and fruitwood pellets.

 

[Randy1]

Kevin, no answer on this topic. To my knowledge our kind of small walmart does not carry a Walmart branded pellet. I will say though their Great Value like cherry pie filing brand can be quite good.

Best I can tell color is a very good indicator of quality. A nice, more dark, shinny pellet is a good guide. The closer it looks like sawdust color, the less quality.

 

[BondMan007]

Thanks all for your comments!

I was able to get Lumberjack for a good price and shipping was free thanks to a tip from another poster here on the forums: https://www.farmandfleet.com/wood-pellets-and-wood-chips/ for $10.99/20lbs delivered free after you sign up for their free Loyalty Program and spend $79+ AND they ship fast.

After trying them out in the hopper, no tube yet, I can say the quality pellets do make a difference when smoking at low temps. I even saw the coveted thin blue smoke from the Lumberjack Apple Blend pellets! Taste was better too.

I think I'm going to go with good quality pellets in the hopper when smoking, which is most of the time, and pellets and/or chips in the tube. When grilling at higher temps, 350+ I guess, maybe even 500 for when I make pizza, I can use the older stuff or if none on hand, get the Tractor Supply BBQ Pellets for $12.99/40lbs or even the Walmart Expert Grill for $6.88/20lbs.

 

[nchapelheel]

Update on the Royal Oak pellets. I used them this morning and I found that they are too hard
to make it through the extruder. While they DID get through and started smoking like
normal, the noise from the extruder sounded like it was trying too hard to move those
pellets. I ran the drive to empty the drive tube and then put mixed pellets in the hopper
to see how that worked. Two hours later all is well with the mix of the Royal Oak and
Pit Boss pellets. Temp is good and the smoke it good