help -- excessive smoke flavor in food

Unknown

The food in my Egg was great for 7 years.
For the last couple years, however, just about everything
I cook in it turns out with a bitter, bad tasting, overwhelming
smoke taste. I think I am smelling some of this
unpleasant smoke smell coming off the grill
as the food cooks. I sometimes think it is
caused by the fat dripping on the coals. However,
this is a problem that has just started recently,
so that couldn't be the sole cause.[p]What could be causing this?
Would a thorough cleaning of the Egg help
(it could probably use it)?
Could it be the charcoal -- too moist?
However, I have tried it with at least three
different bags of pure lump charcoal, including BGE
charcoal, and it was bad each time (indicating
charcoal is not likely the cause).
Perhaps I had a real run of bad
luck with the charcoal.[p]Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

mad max beyond eggdome

Bread,
sounds like first of all, you need to clean the egg good. .. i'd empty it completely, pull the fire ring and fire box, sweep out the bottome completely. ...then i'd fire up a fresh load of charcoal, let it get up in the 700 degree range and let it burn for 30 minutes or so (careful your gaskets don't start melting ). . .if you have a plate setter, let that go in the egg as well to burn off any excess grease and crud build up on that. ...then i'd let the temps come back down to a more reasonable range (like 400 degrees) and let it cook at that temp till you see absolutely no smoke coming out of the top of the egg. . ..then shut her down. . .let cool. . .re-load and start cooking again. ..HTH