acid3x They both do the same thing. Tray smokes a bit longer because it holds more. Tube is easier to move as it is smaller. Tube is better for when I use it in my propane grill because it doesn't take up a lot of cooking surface. Both are good solutions though.

Salmon can take more smoke than other fish, but even so I'm still pretty light with it. I prefer Alder for all fish. Fruitwoods (Cherry, apple etc) are fine. Time is not something you can be told, you smoke to temp. Size of fillet, thickness, smoker temp, environmental conditions and more all impact time.

Sorry, didnt mean to sound so rude to a fellow who is a bit of a newbie to bbq.

Heat doesn't rise where you live? The deck is in no danger.

Bret - haha, good 1. I’m guessin u were born in the 50’s & part of the “hippy - flower gen”. Not to many of us round anymore that can relate.😉👍

Some of that is going to be temp dependent. I generally try to keep foods out of the "danger zone" temp range of 40-140F - or at least limit the time the food is in that range. Beef is an obvious exception. Chicken I'd generally not start cold smoking, as I get enough smoke in the time it is on the heat. Pork - particularly larger chunks - could be a place where I can see doing this. I'm not a heavy smoke preference kind of guy, so I generally still get enough smoke from the time on the heat, but if you like a stronger smoke than I do, then I can see this being an option. But with the tube, the smoke is constant and strong so I don't get a drop off when the heat starts - particularly with an electronic element as the heat source.

With my tube I can have smoke for 4-5 hours from the one load of pellets. The chip tray in an MES-40 needs to be fed every 45ish minutes to keep smoke rolling. The tube is a handy tool to have for set-it and forget-it smoking, particularly for longer smokes overnight for things like a brisket for instance.

ok thats pretty cool then. does a product exist to do the same with chips instead of pellets? i have had bad experience with the flavour pellets give the meat

The Masterbuilt Electric Smokers come with a chip tube and tray that generate smoke. They'll only burn for about 45 minutes before needing to be replenished. The tubes and trays for pellets work longer because of the slower burn rate of the pellets. If you were to pack the Amazen Tube I use for pellets full of wood chips it would just start a fire in your smoker. I'd recommend a bit of experimentation on your part. You might have had bad pellets, or a wood flavor you just don't like. That does happen. You might also have not had good air flow in the smoker. That can happen too. And you may have had the vent closed too much on the smoker causing a buildup of smoke and poorer combustion of the pellets resulting in a bad flavored smoke. The pellets are just compressed wood, and the burn slower because of surface area and density than would wood chips. So I'm inclined to say the pellets weren't your issue unless it was just a flavor of pellet you don't like. I'm not a mesquite fan, so were I to use those pellets I could see where I might not like the resultant flavor. But even then, I don't think I'd hate it, I just much prefer other woods. So I'd suggest trying some Apple, Cherry, Pecan or Hickory pellets and see how it goes for you. Particularly the fruit woods are easy on the taste buds.

thanks. im glad to hear it was likely something else i might be able to figure out

You can buy the masterbuilt cold smoking kit is about $50 on Amazon is for cold smoking but it can also be use for hot smoking and chips can last for up to 4-6 hours without refill

Vitaliy - this tube does produce heat. You are smouldering the wood pellets and that burning is giving off a fair bit of heat. Not like when the unit is running on the heating element, but certainly some heat. As for doing it for fish, you'd have to experiment, it might be just fine and cool enough (I suspect so). But for things like cold smoking cheese it can be too much heat causing the cheese to melt. Many will do what is called the mailbox mod (you can find good KZfaq videos of it). Basically using a metal mailbox and a short tube to connect the mailbox to the smoker. Then you put your tube in the mailbox, isolating the heat there, but getting the smoke to pass through into the smoker.

Have the 40" awesome machine! Other then having to put in wood chips/lil chunks in like every hr o so it's literally a set it and forget it rig. Since it has a window I can always see what's going on without having to open it and seeing if it drying out, but never has/does! so no needs to be spirits nor need to wrap in aluminum either. It's made smoking way way way easier... Ps. a buddy of mine has a Pellet smoker which ain't bad either (litterly a set it and forget it right) butr 3x the price it has limited space but most of all we have to complain about noticing that even on light windy days it doesn't get as much of smoky flavor...

Also, did you use any liquid in the water pan?

Chicken I usually do at 275F.

Yes, I use water, and sometimes I do add in apple cider vinegar or apple juice. I've tried things like root beer and other flavored liquids and don't notice a difference in the taste of the meat.

Chris Meirose I appreciate your responses. Are you also using wood chips for your smoke, or just the pellet tube?

I use both depending on what I'm cooking (but NOT both simultaneously). So as a rough rule of thumb, if I'm smoking for less than 2 hours, I just use wood chips. Fast, easy, convenient. Anything longer than that gets the tube. The tube is perfect for 4-5 hours of smoke. So large cuts like a brisket, or when I did 60+lbs of pork butts in a single smoke in June for a church event. The other thing for me is that I have more variety currently of wood chips than I do of pellets. I think I'm down to just having pecan for pellets at the moment, so that could be a deciding factor at some point (though hasn't been thus far). I've just been lazy and trying to be frugal so I haven't ordered more since I have 4 bags of wood chips sitting here already.

Mine is a MES-40.

I smoked a Turkey on Christmas Day. A ham the day before. Beef Ribs are amazing to do. You can do pork belly and make your own bacon. Cold smoke some cheese and you'll never buy the store brands again.

@Adam Austin Always a winner. Hoping to pick one up on Friday.

Produces more smoke than the chips do. But the reason to use the tube is 5-6 hours of smoke - no babysitting. I don't have to keep feeding chips every 45 minutes. Particularly on an overnight smoke for a brisket, not having to feed it is a very nice thing. I do use chips at times though, this isn't to say that. On steaks, fish, even chicken I'll use chips quite regularly.