Yes, a heat gun does a good job, I just happen to own a handful of torches so I use them out of convenience.

Same! I got a ton of creosote too. So glad this was posted, thanks man!

Why are you guys using a smoke tube when your smoker comes with a smoke box?

@@daveharmon8674 you have to reload the box with chips every 45 mins. Pellet tubes last 6+ hours . Masterbuilts are junk anyways. I switched to a traeger

@@zachdelkus thanks

For ribs, you probably won't see a whole lot of difference. But do a brisket for 18 hours and having the added moisture can/does have an impact. You have to determine if you prefer that (I do), but the water pan is by no means required.

That's because you don't know what you're doing

I let them burn out dead in the smoker generally. So at that point, it is just cold ash. But if you needed to extract while it was still burning, just use metal tongs. You could then wet them down to put them out, and then dispose of however you see fit.

Famous Dave's is my "standard". For reasonably priced and readily available rubs it is my #1.

I do use numerous others, including a couple from Meat Church. Dave's is just easy and solid.

The smell of pellets is strong. Burns the eyes something fierce. But tastes great. Try smelling it from 20 feet away and see what you think. When I get a direct hit, it is too much for me. But if I'm on the other side of the house and the smoke drift my way it smells like heaven. The other thing could be you don't like whatever pellet you have. I have a blend of apple, cherry, pecan and hickory that I've found I really like.

The water pan sits immediately below where I put the tube. I use water 90% of the time and have never had any issues with it negatively affecting the tube. Particularly when doing a bunch of pork butts or a big brisket, there is already a fair bit of humidity in the box regardless. If you get the pellets dry to begin with, and then ensure you have good combustion going before putting it in the smoker, you should be just fine.

The tubes are designed for the pellets, and I'd recommend that over the wood chips. There are some who have done the woodchips, but the flair up chance on the chips over the pellets is enough that I choose to only use pellets in the tube. I do at time use chips in the standard way (through the side on top of the heating element) but then the side tube is fully seated rather then half out to limit the air flow. The ideal is a smoulder not a flame.

@@ChrisMeirose Good to know! 👍

Nope, just got the first inch burning so they would smoulder well when the flame was blown out. Almost 6 hour of smoke out of the tube, so definitely nowhere near half.