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When smoking on a kettle, I keep my lid vent open all the way to allow the smoke to escape and keep continuous air flow. I adjust my bottom vents for heat control.
Welcome from SC, Carol. This is a great site with lots of good folks who are always eager to share their ideas and tips. All you have to do is ask and keep reading. I will ditto the answer that DukeBurger gave about your vents.
Good evening and welcome to the forum, from another pretty nice day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.