# Hello all from TN!



## Shootlessjoe (Oct 14, 2019)

Hello all!


New to the forums here. Been lurking around for a bit here recently as I was in the middle of deciding which path of smokers I wanted to go as this was a gift for my wife. She wants to learn to smoke. I ended up getting one of those:








Figured that most people are going three different ways. My wife didn't want gas smoker, pellets were a tad too high with some issues. So I ended up with this thing here from Lowes. Already got it assembled and fired it up for a few hours to get the chemicals off. 

I read some threads on the forums here that focus how to smoke meats and such. I went with the lump coal. To my surprise, it does nicely compared to briquettes. 

My question here is how does everyone handle their charcoal smoker? Do you light it up and throw some dry wood chips or do you soak them before hand? We want to get a good smokey flavor on our meats. My wife wants to pre-cook the food to reduce some time spent smoking for many hours. Just don't have all that time in the world.


Thanks!


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## kruizer (Oct 14, 2019)

Small splits will do best in your smoker and don't wet them. Just feed one split about every thirty to forty five minutes. Start your fire with charcoal and then feed the splits.


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## Shootlessjoe (Oct 14, 2019)

kruizer said:


> Small splits will do best in your smoker and don't wet them. Just feed one split about every thirty to forty five minutes. Start your fire with charcoal and then feed the splits.




Kruizer,

Thanks for the advice! I know there are different types of woods to get and etc.. but where would be an ideal place to get such wood? I know Lowes and the other big box stores carry them but I do like to see what others here have found. Maybe a question in the wood section would a better place to ask such questions for wood splits. LOL


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## kruizer (Oct 15, 2019)

Craig's list is your friend for wood. There a lot of wood vendors there and the price is usually much better than Lowes


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## HalfSmoked (Oct 15, 2019)

Pre cooking can affect the amount of smoke flavor in your meat. my $.02

Warren


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## SmokinVOLfan (Oct 15, 2019)

Welcome from East TN! Warren made a good point above. If you are trying to save time pre-cooking meat probably isn't your best option as it can affect the smoke penetration. You could always do things like wrap meats and finish them in the oven or smoke at higher temps for butts or briskets.


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## Shootlessjoe (Oct 15, 2019)

Thanks for the advice. Shoot, I don't know how much time we want to spend smoking it so I was hoping to somewhat have it cooked to a certain point. I might find something that would work. Then again, we haven't started anything yet. LOL


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## HalfSmoked (Oct 15, 2019)

Thanks for the like SmokinVOLfan it is appreciated.

Warren


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## Crunch1224 (Nov 10, 2019)

I find a lot of wood from facebook.


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## SmokinAl (Nov 10, 2019)

Welcome to SMF!
If you want to shorten the cook time just run the smoker at a higher temp, or smoke it for a couple of hours & finish it in the oven. I would not pre-cook it I would smoke it first.
Al


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## Hawging It (Nov 10, 2019)

Welcome from  Southeast Mississippi!


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## Shootlessjoe (Nov 13, 2019)

Thanks! Good advice!


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