WSM - 4 chickens - top grate

[Papa Don]

How long do you wait to put the meat on? My experience has been that lump also makes thick smoke when lighting off. But I'm wondering if it clears up quicker than briqs due to the lower density. I used lump in mine once or twice, but I don't really remember how that went.

At the very least 45 minutes to an hour. This is far from my first rodeo.
That wasn’t the problem… it was the storm that went through. It intensely effected the air flow through the smoker. More so than any other cooker I’ve had. Up to this point the WSM has been stellar. In this particular cook I was using kingsford BB.
In retrospect, I will take the meat off the cooker when a storm comes through next time. That and I feel like lump is better to BB kingsford but that is my opinion. Others have theirs.

 

[Hinds15]

It's chicken, nothing wrong with cooking on the higher end. Especially when you load it up like that, it can be hard for air to flow.

 

[Hinds15]

A hunsaker hanging rack would help also.