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Chips or chunks

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GrillSgt
GrillSgt Posts: 2,507
in EggHead Forum
I'm new to the egg. I have always used chips when grilling or smoking. Do you use chunks for the long smoke? Soaked first? Thanks
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  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
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    No need to soak. I use chunks since they last longer. Many people use chips and mix them throughout the charcoal.  Try whatever you can buy easily.

    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    No need to soak and chips are fine, mix them thru the lump as you fill the fire box. Restricted airflow in the egg limits flare ups to when you open the dome, otherwise the chips do their smokey magic. Suggest you use less than you do in a kettle or other smoker and don't look for large whiffs of smoke coming out the top. Good luck!
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,674
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    as said: NO SOAK...... I use whatever i have handy. I only turbo so 5 hours is a long cook for me and not that often anyway. So both work just fine
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

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  • bhedges1987
    bhedges1987 Posts: 3,201
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    I do 4 chunks and about two handfuls of chips fora low and slow. Layer them both throughout the lump while I'm filling it. 

    Kansas City, Missouri
    Large Egg
    Mini Egg

    "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" - Gandalf


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  • THEBuckeye
    THEBuckeye Posts: 4,231
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    It's about how much smoke you desire for the food you're cooking. Different strokes........
    New Albany, Ohio 

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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
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    no need to soak.  i use whatever is available, and usually focus them in the middle of the lump vertically up and down through it.  gives smoke throughout the cook.

    chips will not ignite in the egg, so they don't 'burn up' faster than chunks.  you just need more of them to produce the same amount of smoke.  all things being equal, including the amount used, chips or chunks will produce the same amount of smoke.

    truth be told, i get better results mixing chips and bits in than i do betting it all on one or two chunks of the same weight. fire can move away from a lone chunk. but it usually finds chips or bits (twigs, etc.) spread throughout the lump
    [social media disclaimer: irony and sarcasm may be used in some or all of user's posts; emoticon usage is intended to indicate moderately jocular social interaction; the comments toward users, their usernames, and the real people (living or dead) that they refer to are not intended to be adversarial in nature; those replying to this user are entering into a tacit agreement that they are real-life or social-media acquaintances and/or have agreed to or tacitly agreed to perpetrate occasional good-natured ribbing between and among themselves and others]

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  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
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    Either or. I tend to use chunks of Oak but, only because that's what's handy. I have both and use pretty much everything. It all burns and smokes. 
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
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  • RedSkip
    RedSkip Posts: 1,400
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    Chunks
    Large BGE - McDonald, PA
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  • Hans61
    Hans61 Posts: 3,901
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    Both - I like to use the ash tool to mix the chips into the lump than maybe add a couple chunks right on the edge of the fire before putting meat in.
    “There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.”
    Coach Finstock Teen Wolf
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  • Grillmagic
    Grillmagic Posts: 1,600
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    Chunks here!
    Charlotte, Michigan XL BGE
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  • YukonRon
    YukonRon Posts: 16,989
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    Non soaked chunks. Mostly Pecan, Peach and Sugar Maple.
    "Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

    XL and MM
    Louisville, Kentucky
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  • GrillSgt
    GrillSgt Posts: 2,507
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    Thanks. The consensus is that there is no consensus. 
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  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
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    GrillSgt said:
    Thanks. The consensus is that there is no consensus. 
    much consensus, actually.  no need to soak, and put in whatever you have, and more if you want more smoke.

    pretty straight forward actually.

    if you want to drive further, put more gas in the tank. 
    [social media disclaimer: irony and sarcasm may be used in some or all of user's posts; emoticon usage is intended to indicate moderately jocular social interaction; the comments toward users, their usernames, and the real people (living or dead) that they refer to are not intended to be adversarial in nature; those replying to this user are entering into a tacit agreement that they are real-life or social-media acquaintances and/or have agreed to or tacitly agreed to perpetrate occasional good-natured ribbing between and among themselves and others]

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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,674
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    YukonRon said:
    Non soaked chunks. Mostly Pecan, Peach and Sugar Maple.
    Found Sugar Maple a couple of years ago and wow on pork and turkey
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

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