No Smoke Flavor

[Murray]

Hmmm that should have worked.

Is there any chance that what was billowing out was steam and that your pellets burned up quickly since they were sitting over the element area and may have burned up really fast and all at once? Then all you saw coming out was actually just steam. Steam and smoke look similar in many cases from a smoker.

If that isn't a possibility at all I would switch pellet brands and try 100% hickory and see what happens in that case.

I know that Pitboss Competition Blend is quite mild so if I smoke anything less than 5 hours with it I can light both ends of the AMNPS and it works well.
These days I doctor up Pitboss CB by mixing more 100% hickory in it so I end up with about 65% hickory total. That does the trick for me without having to light both ends of the AMNPS.
You may just have a weak pellet blend for a pork butt.

I agree with the Pitboss CB blend is quite mild. I find I need to add smoke for twice as long to get any smoke flavour out of it compared to Apple which is not that strong. As mentioned above I would try a different type and or different manufacturer’s pellets.

 

[zwiller]

I don't see it mentioned but you completely filled the tray and all the pellets were used up, right? I average 12hrs per tray so for 15hrs, the tray should be total ash. While I agree PM blend is milder, there is hickory in there as well as maple and should be noticeable but maybe not as strong as 100% hickory. As was already said, if it was served same day and everyone hanging out near the smoker, they could very well be nose blind too. I never eat same day I smoke... Only other thing I can think of is that some people are accustomed to charcoal flavor in smoked food (I am not) and if that is the case, there are charcoal wood blend pellets that might help but have not used them myself. Hang in there, you'll figure it out!

 

[andycaree]

I don't see it mentioned but you completely filled the tray and all the pellets were used up, right? I average 12hrs per tray so for 15hrs, the tray should be total ash. While I agree PM blend is milder, there is hickory in there as well as maple and should be noticeable but maybe not as strong as 100% hickory. As was already said, if it was served same day and everyone hanging out near the smoker, they could very well be nose blind too. I never eat same day I smoke... Only other thing I can think of is that some people are accustomed to charcoal flavor in smoked food (I am not) and if that is the case, there are charcoal wood blend pellets that might help but have not used them myself. Hang in there, you'll figure it out!

Thanks for the input. My tray was filled all the way and if I remember correctly I probably got six or seven our hours out of a full tray. When it was done all the pallets were burned up.

 

[chopsaw]

It's really hard to tell Smoke from steam exiting an MES, especially in the Winter.

Yup . I'll hold my hand over the exhaust stack , and see how much moister forms .

. It does look well used in the pic.

I was wondering what well used looked like .

 

[gmc2003]

I was wondering what well used looked like .

The smoker in post #24 has seen more then a few grocery items sitting on it's racks.

Chris