Nagging Smoke Question

Actually, you are correct and you can and should ask all the questions you like. I assume you are talking about low and slow by the wording of your post.  If not then ignore the rest of this.

As a smoker, the egg is very capable but does not provide the best environment for true low and slow cooking. Smoldering wood/lump are not ideal for great smoke flavor. You'll get plenty of smoky flavor but it will come with creosotes and other nasty compounds that would not occur in an environment where the fire was hot and clean (like an offset or something similar). 

Its not that it is a no no to soak wood. A lot of folks have come to believe that soaking wood doesn't add any real benefit to the cook. So why go through the bother to soak for no positive return?  

wall of text warning

@johnnyp   Wood that has not been made into charcoal doesn't have the VOCs that charcoal does. So ONE aspect of the bitterness (from the waste products of making charcoal being released), isn't an issue. Because it isn't there to begin with

But wood itself, seasoned or unseasoned, will create waste products when it burns. In fact, the idea of carbonizing wood in the first place (to make chacoal) is to drive off water and these waste products to reduce the wood to a suitable and predictable (i.e. burns predictably) fuel which burns at a relatively fixed rate/temp and CLEANLY. 

(N.B.:  yes, you can stoke it crazy hot, but for our purposes, under its own draft, it's pretty much a fixed temp/rate)

we don't necessarily ALWAYS want that. Some of the waste products are sugars and flavors we find pleasing. 

Question is how much is too much

we use relatively little, and so the smoke isn't bad. Use too much, it can be. Pretty straightforward 

some will say that that you shouldn't use certain woods (softwoods typically).  Because they are bitter and resinous. 

But sure you can. People do all the time, and simply meter just how much, so the food doesn't get too bitter

cedar planks are soaked to delay smoke until later in the cook for example. 

German hams are smoked traditonally over juniper. The large amoint of internal meat relative to the rind means the smoke won't be overwhelming by comparison

temperature of the burn is important too. 

Now, back to OP.

@fishindoc
 THE BIGGEST FACTOR THOUGH:  Charcoal is made with high heat in a low oxygen environment. A lot of stuff is driven off, but the carbon never fully burns. Incomplete combustion in a way. Incomplete combustion makes a stink. Blow out a candle and watch that wick glow red. The smoke is horrible. That's incomplete combustion. Not hot enough to burn cleanly, but hot enough to burn some amount.  Incomplete combustion leads to large particles of soot, bad tasting compunds, etc.

but higher heat burning is generally cleaner

a second or two before you blew it out, that candle was burning cleanly, right? May even have been a scented candle. Smelled nice perhaps

that's because it was burning well and completely 

back to your fire/question

you smoking wood is in an environment that says it is 250 degrees. But you charcoal is always much much hotter. And your charcoal (in a BGE) is always burning completely. Because it draws the oxygen it needs. The fire is always close to a thousand degrees

when that fire finds a piece of wood, it burns the wood fully. And that makes for a cleaner smoke

it's a firm of distillation in a way. Higher temps yield less particulate waste and better flavors. And your smoking wood is being burnt by the much hotter charcoal, because the charcoal burns cleaner and hotter than wood alone would (wood by itself) because it is a tefined fuel

like a candle, wood chunks have no idea how big they are. they just keep burning until they run out, and the entire thing doesn't burn all at once.

the burn at the beginning is just like the burn at the end pretty much, except for maybe steam at the beginning (white smoke).  maybe the rest of the chunk dries out because of the hot environment, before it is fully burned

you can wait for blue smoke, after the steam.  some say that's best.  burning cleanly

'bitterness' can be ascribed to a number of things, and your bitter may not be my bitter.

all we can do is tell you how we do it, and if you like the resultant flavor, then all's good.

i don't think there's a way in the BGE to smoke with 'perfectly smoking wood' every second of the cook

Different people have different experiences.  I tried mixing in wood chunks, mixing chips throughout the lump, mixing chips and chunks throughout the lump, was always disappointed when it was a type of cook I wanted really smoky.  What finally worked for me (for a low-and-slow when I want smoky flavor) was this:

1. Load the lump, NO wood.  No Plate Setter.  Light the fire one place only, in the center.  When the fire gets to temp, close down the vents to what probably will be right, let the temp stabilize, and the white smoke is gone.  Overall, I'd guess this usually is about half an hour.  And the temp is usually 250-275.  I just get more smoke than at 200.
   
2. Only then put on 4 wood chunks or so, on top of the lump, arranged radially around the fire.  Put in the Plate Setter.  Let the Egg get back up to temp (if it even dropped much at all), then
3. Add the meat/
   

This way I get nice blue smoke most of the cook, and the flavor is wonderful.