re: When do you add your wood chips/chunks for a low and slow smoke?

Bumping this from a couple weeks ago for another question. First, the pork came out with just the amount of smoke flavor I wanted, so thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I didn't soak but used two applewood chunks near the bottom of the lump bed and put a couple more on top once the temp was stabilized.

My issue this time was getting the temp low enough. It took much longer than it probably should have.

I tried this

quote:

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Lid is wide open.

One my lessons learned when using lump charcoal was that it has a creosote layer on it. This needs to burn off. It usually shows as a blueish color in the smoke and will impart a undesired flavor. The coals are burning clean when evidenced by "clear" smoke

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and before I knew it I had a massive fire going. I almost had to shut the vents completely off to get the temp under control and that appeared to cause more bad smoke as it was basically choking out.

So do you think I let it burn and flame too long originally? Would a smaller flame maybe on one side of the lump accomplish the same thing with the creosote, or does it all have to burn?

Again, everything eventually got to where it needed to be and it came out fine. But it took me well over an hour from fire start to meat add, so it seems like I went wrong somewhere.