Napoleon Prestige Pro Question

[WPJoe]

Hi everyone - I recently purchased a Prestige Pro 665.
Theres a lot I am enjoying about the grill.

One thing I am struggling with i show to use the integrated smoker drawer - and I am wondering if there are any Prestige Pro owners out there who have success with it?

I fully understand this is not real smoking. But on my Weber gas grill I have had good success adding some flavor by using smoker boxes with wood chips, and I would like to continue this with the Napoleon.

I can just user smoker boxes like I always have, but I like the idea of trying to get the integrated tray to work. However, no matter what I try (Napoleon recommends soaking chips which I have...) even on the lowest burner setting the chips are catching fire and burning up very quickly - as opposed to lasting for 45 mins -1 hr of light smoke, which is what Napoleon says should be happening.

Would love any thoughts, thanks!

 

[Dweverett]

How long are you soaking the chips?

 

[WPJoe]

How long are you soaking the chips?

Hi thanks for the reply.
I have tried everything from not soaking at all, to soaking for an hour to soaking for about 2.5 hours.
I am reluctant to soak for too long as a lot of the advice I have read suggests that it will only create smoldering smoke/steam, not real wood chip smoke...

 

[Dweverett]

I don’t have any experience doing it but I would think that’s more than enough time. I can’t remember offhand if the smoker tray has a lid. If it doesn’t, maybe try putting some foil over it to try to limit the amount of air?

 

[WPJoe]

its basically a pull out drawer that you load with chips and then slide bac into the front of the grill alongside the burner tubes. It then has its own dedicated burner right under the drawer to heat it - I try turning it on temporarily and then once it starts to smoke, turning off the dedicated burner, but it catches fire quickly (or if I turn off the burner earlier, doesnt get hot enough to smoke the chips)

 

[NCGrimbo]

its basically a pull out drawer that you load with chips and then slide bac into the front of the grill alongside the burner tubes. It then has its own dedicated burner right under the drawer to heat it - I try turning it on temporarily and then once it starts to smoke, turning off the dedicated burner, but it catches fire quickly (or if I turn off the burner earlier, doesnt get hot enough to smoke the chips)

You could try using pellets instead of chips and see if that works. Just make sure you get the pellets made for smokers and not for heaters.

 

[ChrisBarb]

Sounds like it could be a bit of a design flaw. Are there Napoleon specific help forums that you can ask on?

 

[FattyMac]

I have the same grill. You need to turn off the smoker tray burner as soon as you see smoke. I find that having either of the adjacent burners on will severely limit the amount of time you get. For this reason I mainly use it when I'm running the rotisserie.

This is also was Napoleon recommends.
https://youtu.be/iD_sVCRllgo

As mentioned above, I've had the most success with pellets. The smoker tray filled with pellets works much like a pellet smoking tube.

You could try using pellets instead of chips and see if that works. Just make sure you get the pellets made for smokers and not for heaters.

Good luck!

 

[WPJoe]

thank you both for these responses.
I do agree that the design seems to be pretty lacking.
I have tried to follow the Napoleon video instructions of turning off as soon as the smoke starts - not always easy to tell, and often either stops smoking right then, or catches fire!
I will try the pellets...and welcome any other advice. Thanks all.

 

[Yann]

I recently bought a second hand Napoleon Prestige Pro 825 to replace my (very old) gas grill Fiesta BBQ. I really love the Napoleon 825 but, I am facing exactly the same issue as WPJoe. I cannot get the smoke flavor on the Napoleon whereas I was able to get it on the Fiesta BBQ... Likewise on the Prestige Pro 665, I also have a useful smoker drawer.
I have also tried to use dry wood chips and soak ones, but always the same result : No hickory smoke taste on the meat... I have also tried my old smoker box that I was using on the Fiesta BBQ, but no flavor... It is smoking for sure, but still no smoke taste on indirect cooking...

I am wondering if it could be better if I use hickory pellets in this drawer (can I use pellets in this drawer or is it dedicated for wood chips).

Any idea ?

Thanks a lot for all your help and happy cooking.

 

[bowhnter]

Hey Yann, welcome. This thread is 3 yrs old so may not get much traction.
Yes you can try the hickory pellets, as was mentioned above, but make sure they are cooking pellets.

 

[Yann]

Hi @bowhnter. Thank you so much for your answer. Ok I will try with the cooking pellets. Thanks again and happy cooking