Wood Chips or Wood Chunks?

[kwhaldem]

Hello. Newbie here. Family gifted me a Smokin Tex 1400 for Fathers Day. Is there a general preference for using wood chips or wood chunks? The smoker came with hickory chunks for seasoning and a bag of cherry wood chips for smoking. I ask because when seasoning I put in the wood chunks and 4 hours later there was small wisps of smoke still coming out. First smoke was baby backs, put in the recommended amount of wood chips based on rib weight for a 4 hour smoke, but after 1.5 hours no more smoke.
Can wood get old, go flat, become less desirable with too much age? TIA. -Karl

 

[bauchjw]

Welcome from Virginia! I’m not familiar with your smoker, but wood doesn’t really go flat. It can get moisture or get moldy, but they don’t get stale. You want them dry. Most smokers are designed for a certain type of wood, but people experiment and use what is safe and provides best results for them. I’ve personally only had luck with chips in the MES, but better results with some slight modifications. If you had luck with the chunk I’d stick with that!

 

[kwhaldem]

Thank you Jed. When a recipe calls for a 4 hour smoke should there be smoke for 4 hours or if the smoke stops after 1.5 hour (my first smoke) should I add more wood or leave it alone for rest of the time?

 

[rdknb]

If I want 4 hours of smoke and it stops smoking at 1.5 hours, I add more chips or chunks depending on which I am using. Experiment and enjoy your smokes

 

[gmc2003]

Is it an electric, charcoal, or propane smoker? My smokers are all charcoal and I use wood chunks. Chips burn up to quickly.

Chris

 

[cal1956]

its easier for me to control the amount of smoke i want useing chips . but its really a 6 in one hand 1/2 dozen in the other kinda thing

 

[noboundaries]

When there's no smoke, especially when using chunks, whiff your hand thru the exhaust towards your nose as you inhale. If you smell the kind of smoke you like to taste on your meat, no need to add more. If you don't smell the wood, add more.

As wood carbonizes, it burns cleaner and releases the volatiles that flavor meat. We call that TBS (thin blue smoke). No visible smoke is the progression from that but it is still flavoring the meat.

Not all smoke is good smoke. Be wary of white or gray smoke. It can contain ashy tasting particulates if the wood is properly aged, or nasty pine-or-bitter-tasting creosote if the wood is too green.

 

[bauchjw]

Thank you Jed. When a recipe calls for a 4 hour smoke should there be smoke for 4 hours or if the smoke stops after 1.5 hour (my first smoke) should I add more wood or leave it alone for rest of the time?

I haven’t had a recipe like that, but I definitely agree with the others. Think of smoke as flavoring, the type of wood, how it gets onto the meat (clean or Dirty) and how long the meat is exposed to it changes the flavor or intensity. Some say that meat only takes on smoke for first few hours, I’m in the camp that believes it keeps taking it no matter what. That being said, when I used my Electric Smoker a lot I used chips and would keep adding them. But, sometimes I’d only do the first couple hours and last couple hours of a long pork butt smoke .

 

[kwhaldem]

Thank you Jed, noboundaries, cal1959, gmc2003, & rdknb for your responses and advice. Here's an update and answers.
The Smokin' Tex is an electric smoker. When I look at the wood box it's not deep enough for big chunks wood, just under 2" of depth. Wood chips it is going forward.
Thank you noboundaries for the thin blue smoke tip. I smoked a slab yesterday and when it looked like no smoke there was still thin smoke coming out. This went on for about 3 hours. I used apple wood this time, the color was not like the time I used cherry, and I used a different style of rub, but definitely a better rack of ribs than the 1st one.

 

[cal1956]

i have always liked my ribs to have a deep reddish color as opposed to those that look black , they just look more appealing , no sauce just dry rub and smoke