thin blue smoke? how do I get it?

[jmedic25]

Yep your rig is offset

 

[bigarm's smokin]

While I think the preburn idea is a very good one, I don't do it. I don't use charcoal either, just straight wood. I have learned to split the wood into small kindling size pieces and lay them on top of the fire box to pre heat them. They are about 16" long. I add one or two pieces to the fire about every 20 minutes. I tried using big pieces so I wouldn't have to baby sit the fire, but I got too much white smoke with them. A small HOT fire is what works best on my smoker. This is what everyone has already told you but I wanted to let you know that it sure has worked well for me.