This may come as a shock to would-be pitmasters everywhere, but more smoke does not mean better barbeque. Plumes of billowy, opaque white smoke spilling from a pit is a tell-tale sign of poor fire control. What you really want is a consistent, fast-moving stream of blue-grey smoke — so thin it’s barely visible. Here’s why.
1. Thick smokes is unhealthy (and it tastes bad)
All smoke carries particles that give flavor to food but thick smoke carries them in bittering, borderline unhealthy doses in the form of carcinogenic creosote, an oily, tongue-numbing residue of wood and charcoal that didn’t fully burn.
As a general rule of thumb: the harder it is to see the smoke coming out of your chimney, the better.
Thin, wispy blue smoke, on the other hand, provides a flavor boost without smothering your food. As a general rule of thumb: the harder it is to see the smoke coming out of your chimney, the better.
2. Good smoke comes from hot fires
Smoke is a “visible collection of a variety of solid, liquid, and gas particles left unburned during the combustion process.”
Thick, white smoke is the product of more particles left unburnt during combustion. Translated into barbeque terms: white smoke is the sign of never-alive or nearly-dead fires.
