Hi there and welcome!
I use pellets, my smoker is a highly modified MES40 with a PID controller.
Pellets allow me to mix/match, etc. and pair whatever wood I want with whatever food goes best with the wood flavor. This is a huge perk I get to enjoy because flavor is everything!
I enjoy hickory but not nearly in the amounts most people use it. I basically don't go over 65% Hickory in anything with the exception of doing 100% Hickory bacon.
I find that 100% Hickory on other food makes it tasted kind of like Bacon to me. If I'm making ribs, chicken, beef, etc. I want those flavors. If I want bacon flavor I'll smoke and eat bacon lol.
After lots of tinkering, here are my wood meat pairings for the best flavors I have made:
- General go-to when not sure what to use - 65% Hickory and then Equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
- Favorite Mid Strength Flavor - 100% Maple pellets, not a fan of Oak because it's used way too much on everything in my area
- Beef - 100% Mesquite pellets. Hands down, mesquite flavor with beef is the best meat/wood combo of all meat/wood combos out there!
- Chicken or Turkey - 65% Hickory, equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
- Pork - 65% Hickory, equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
- Most Sausage - 75% Apple, 25% Hickory pellets
- Bologna or Pastrami - 100% Maple
- Bacon - my fave is 75% Apple, 25% Hickory pellets. HOWEVER I will do 100% Hickory on this one item if wanting pure hickory bacon
- Salmon - 100% Alder pellets
- Meatloaf - 25% Alder 75% Mesquite (I am using up an old bag of Alder/Mesquite blend pellets and I add more Mesquite)
Pecan wood pellets is one that I don't really care for. They are soo weak for some reason. I don't really use them on anything but may just blend them into stuff to get rid of the 40 pounds I have lol.
I have tried them plenty of ways but never find them to be better than anything else above.
As you can see I have lots of options and combos. I have really enjoyed figuring out wood and meat combos. I still pick up and try wood pellets every now and again but usually when I run low on another bag or blend that I am trying to get rid off. For example I have a bag that is a blend of Charcoal and Oak pellets and it's ok on the pork ribs I used but didn't wow me either.
Looking forward to trying Plumb and Almond wood pellets because I can get them locally. I just need to move thorugh about 40 pounds of pellets before I can add those to my collection hahaha.
I hope this info helps :)