Walmart wood, can't get it to smoke?

[medicine man]

I purchased a big bag of Mesquite and Hickory chunks @ Walmart and cannot get it to smoke. The wood I've bought at my grill supplier always smoked well. I even upped the temp today before putting the meat on to 350* and it still barely put out a wisp.

I'm using a gas GOSM with an iron pan to hold the wood and have tried soaking and not soaking the wood.

Anybody else run into this?

 

[walking dude]

how bout putting the pan, directly on the flame plate?

 

[desertlites]

never heard of that-sheesh China!

 

[medicine man]

The pan is about 5" above the actual flame. If I removed the stand it is on, I could get it about 3" above the flame.

 

[travcoman45]

I buy my hickory from walmart (least ways till I get a deal worked out round here), never have the problem. However, I have replaced that there iron box with a 9x9 cheap cake pan, put yer chunks in the bottom, wrap with foil (heps with them flare ups) an poke a few holes in the foil. Always have smoke. I did by some western hickory from Menards the other day, it burns like crazy! Real hard ta control. Ifin the thinner pan don't work, guess yall gonna have ta try gettin it closer ta the fire like steve said. Hope it works out fer ya, the GOSM is a great unit, hope they get thins worked out an stay in production.

 

[tn_bbq]

Weird. I've always had pretty good success with the wood chunks/chips I've bought at Wally-World.

Does it make good flavor? You don't have to see smoke to receive smoke flavor.

 

[bbq bubba]

That would help.

 

[medicine man]

Not sure if it makes a difference, the iron pan I put my wood in is a 9" cast iron pan I use to replace the little square one the GOSM comes with.

 

[travcoman45]

I'd give the cake pan a whirl, thinner metal heats faster. Just my two coppers worth.

 

[smokin for life]

Maybe that thick ole cast iron pan needs more time to heat up. Like Travcoman45 I us an old loaf pan. That heats up real quick and strarts smoking fast. I don't think it's your wood, but that only my opinion.

 

[talleymonster]

Sam Walton is the devil.

 

[jocosa]

Things might be different at Wally-World if ol' Sam was still around - it's what his kids did with the biz after he died that's ruined that whole thing... have heard that repeatedly from too many people who worked for WM Before and After.

My first bag of hickory chunks was from WM, aside from some being hard as a rock and difficult to split down in to a usable form, the stuff was ok... I'll still use them in a pinch, but tend to get my wood from more local sources now... still using the original box that came with my GOSM too... no problem getting it to smoke when I need it to.

 

[ddave]

I agree with the other posters. Try a thinner pan and get it closer to the flame if it still won't smoke.

Dave

 

[medicine man]

Well, I left wood in it for 9 hours as I smoked today. At the end of the day the wood came out nearly whole (blackened, but whole and certainly not turned to ash).

My temp was 220* on a digital thermometer, then I bumped it up towards the end to rush things a little.

 

[bb53chevpro]

IMO, if you can smell the smoke, you are smoking. I have run into a similar situation, but I can smell it. so I don't worry til I cannot smell it anymore.
Hope this helps.

 

[tf bbq]

Wally's kids do just fine. I work at Wally World. I have a family and five kids. I probably would not work any where else unless I was paid significantly more else where and I doubt that is likely to happen. If you have a problem with your local Wal-Mart, let the store manager know. They make their money by keeping customers happy. They can't fix everything but they can't fix anything they do not know about.

For me personally, there is not a better company to work for. I am listened to and you may have seen some of my ideas in the stores. I am just a regular Joe, not a decison maker or a manager. But I count and I know it. The same is true for everybody else I know. My boss treats me like I want to be treated. I have a great work life balance. My friends who do not work for Wally World are jealous of the schedules offered.

There are just a lot of blow hards out there that just want to spout their narrow views to those who listen. If you want to complain, fine, but do you own research. Don't trust somebody else's.

I will not respond to any reponses but I am tired of people bad mouthing a great place to work just because it is popular to do so.

 

[ron50]

Enough said pro and con about Walmart.

This thread is about a problem someone is having with some wood purchased. Let's please keep the comments to that.

If you want to have a private discussion keep it to private messages.

 

[bbq bubba]

I agree but he's not burning at all.

Your DEFINETLY not getting the wood hot enough!
Try the pan like the other guys have said, you couldn't warm water in cast iron 5" away from the flame let alone ignite wood!

THAT'S what i'm talking about!!!

 

[daddio]

i ran into a similar using an afterburner type setup with the foil covered cans,they would end up same as your saying, basicly with homemade lump charcoal so i opened the holes up more and it seemed to help course your chunks burn up faster i ended up using my two cans loaded up twice each,and had good results so you maybe choking the chunks down too much.and there you have my 2 cents.

 

[capt dan]

Toss a half burned briquette in there with the chunks! Off to the side of course!