VOC's versus Smoke

I believe it's at a certain temp it changes from bad to good. I am not sure what temp it is, but I like smoking meat at around 250. Also after a certain amount of time the VOC's will burn off. I also try use fruit woods and lighter nut woods Luke pecan. I don't add a lot of oak, hickory or mesquite wood when I cook, but that's a personal preference.

@FarmerTom‌ dammit Tommie, you beat me to it! >:)

Fred19Flintstone said:

Sardonicus said:

(Mrs. O'Leary was probably warned, too.  Obviously, she didn't listen.    )

I thought it was the cow.

The cow was proselytized, propagandized, and ultimately duped into behavior contrary to its own interests.

That cow listened to A.M. radio.

In this instance, Mrs. O'Leary is to blame for the aforementioned bovine behavior.

Never thought much about any of this, nor will I. You are overthinking, IMO. I dump in some lump, add a few chunks of smoke wood if I want more smoke (more often than not, I don't) and light the fire. When it smells good, I put the food on. When it's done, I eat. 

Woods that are good for smoking, when "pyrolized," produce fumes that have spicelike flavors. Surprisingly to me, vanilla flavor is one of them. Woods pyrolize when there is enough heat to break down the chemical structure of the wood, but not enough oxygen to allow burning.

The problem is then 2 fold.

When making charcoal, there is often a lot of stuff that is left in the lump that is not carbon.  From what I've read, lump charcoal in the US averages around 80% by weight of carbon. VOCs, moisture, bits of uncarbonized wood comprise the rest. None of those produce good flavor, and will probably produce bitter acidic flavors which are possibly carcinogenic. Until enough heat is generated to burn or drive those chemicals off, there's "bad smoke." Usually, this is visible as a dense smoke comprised of condensing water, the chemical bits dissolved in it, and some carbon particles.

So. Let the Egg burn at whatever temperature until there has been enough heat to drive off the residuals from the charcoal making process.

The 2nd problem is that more wood on the coals will just recreate the 1st problem if there is too much air flow. Traditional 'Q gets around this by establishing a good bed of burning coals, and adding just enough wood to keep the fire going, and not exposing the food directly to the fire. Or at least making enough room between the coals and the food.

The Egg and other cookers handles the second problem very well by the restricted airflow. Once the lump is burning cleanly, the kindled charcoal grabs the oxygen before the wood can burn. So the heat pyrolizes the wood, and one gets "good smoke" that is rich in pleasant flavors. There will still be some moisture which can lead to creosote formation, but hopefully little enough that it only forms around the top Egg vent. In the Egg, drier wood is better than wet.