? About Mixed Used/Fresh Lump & White Smoke

55Kevy

I usually have a mix of used and fresh lump in the firebox.  Most of the time it is probably 70% used by volume.  I tend to put the used in the center and distribute the fresh around the perimeter.  This way when I light I think I have a shorter time to clearing the white smoke since it is the used lump (VOCs burned off already) burning first.  However, on longer cooks where the fresh lump gets ignited at some time into the cook, do I risk more VOC burning during the cook?  Actually, I guess this applies to an all fresh load: some lump ignites later in the cook and so releases VOCs at that time.  Or is the ambient temp sufficient to drive off all the VOCs, whether burning or not?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Darby_Crenshaw

VOCs are driven off quickly. They are "volatile" which in this case has nothing to do with flammability. 

"Volatile" means they readily vaporize, at room temp. The heat of the fire will drive off the vast majority of VOCs and once you have "clean" smoke, it will stay clean

There may be some small amount of VOCs entrained inside the lump, but not much

if it smells clean now, it will smell clean three hours from now when the fire reaches unburnt lump. Because the VOCs are long gone