A-maze-n pellet smoker frustration

[IamMadMan]

Using it today to smoke some cheese for a friend. Using Pacific Pellets. A minute in the microwave followed by 5 minutes of rest, repeated 6 times. Smoking with 0 troubles.

Now that's what I call cold smoking cheese. Nice job Doug!

 

[pmad]

I'm probably wrong about this, but it's my understanding that the pellet maze is not intended for a kettle grill. I think that there is not enough air because the charcoal takes just about all of it. Check with Todd Johnson.

I'm confused.
I use a pellet maze for cold smoking all the time.
But it's COLD smoking. Why would you be using charcoal at all?
Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[airedale]

Re using the AMNPS with charcoal, I have been experimenting with using it and the 6" tube smoker on the wood pan in my Camp Chef LP smoker. This because I have had problems keeping loose pellets and wood chips smoking when I have the box temp set in the 225deg range and it is shirtsleeve temperatures outside. The burner flame is just too low to keep things going.

Thinking inadequate oxygen might be an issue, I did an experiment where I brought a piece of 1/2" black pipe from a hole in the back wall of the cabinet to the center of the wood tray to give added oxygen. The pattern of burning pellets told me that oxygen was adequate; the ones right near the fresh air source didn't burn any differently than the ones well away from it. I also tried a 3' extension on the smoke stack to increase draft but no joy there either.

The AMNPS works well, but basically all the pellets burn at the same time. I don't remember the burn time but it was maybe 3 hours. Definitely much, much shorter and much more smoke than what I get when I cold smoke with it.

With the 6" tube smoker, I get about 2 hours of reliable smoke, so that's what I'll probably start using.

 

[Aceman]

Related question-

I'm getting a smoke hollow smoker for Christmas, but I already have a smoke box (cast iron) that I use on my gasser. Can I use that for cold smoking using chips instead of these with pellets? Thanks