More continuous smoke from pellets

When my MAK 2 star was delivered, I immediately used the MAK pellets that came with it. I really like the smoke profile, kind of a sweet smelling smoke. Also, when the grill was on smoke setting, I got nearly continuous smoke (more after an auger run but always some). I ran out of MAK pellets quickly.

Next, I loaded up the hickory BBQrs delight that BP threw in with my order. The smoke smell is not nearly as sweet, but that is just personal preference. The odd thing is the lack of continuity in the smoke. I only see smoke coming out of the grill about once every 3 or 4 minutes when the auger runs.

So, my question is this. Do different pellets smoke for different lengths of time after ignition? Or, did something change with my grill? I find the latter unlikely since the change occurred with the change in pellets. If pellets smoke longer and shorter, can somebody suggest some "long smoking" pellets?

PS. Grill and firepot are clean


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All good questions and a lot of subjective answers to come. Just remember BBQ is not a perfect science rather a journey of knowledge that will vary by person, food and pit.

Pellets: MAK pellets are Alder based where Candy Sue's are Oak based, different flavor, smoke, ash content BTU's etc. Pellets can also vary in moisture from bag to bag or batch to batch or from just sitting around causing slight differences in heat and smoke.

Grill: The grill will "season" as you go and you may notice slight differences as this happens. Grease will build up, ash will accumulate, the material will temper, vents will clog etc. It will change slightly when cleaned vs. when its dirty, most people won't notice or care unless its obvious.

Smoke: The way you get heavy smoke (that you can easily see) is by dumping unburned pellets on top of the fire. They smoke heavy before igniting and slightly while burning. The MAK feeds pellets in such a way to maximize smoke (especially on the "smoke" setting) by controlling the pellet dumps and fan speed. It is normal to see waves of heavy smoke as the pellets are dumped into the pot.

Conclusion: Run your own tests and use what works best for you and remember there are no rules or perfect answers.
Have fun!

Very well put Bob. Love the Conclusion.

I personally have noticed different smoke output with different pellet brands SharpGator.

Well, I used the pellet dump door for the first time and tried something else. I put in some leftover Traeger oak pellets. I would estimate that these pellets gave me about a 80% up time on the smoke. Obviously, it is hard to estimate whether these effects are from an individual bag or are inherent to the brand/type.

I've ordered some more MAK pellets as well as some other brands.


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the wind outside plays a factor is how you notice the smoke so does the altitude.....

SHarpGator said:

...I put in some leftover Traeger oak pellets. I would estimate that these pellets gave me about a 80% up time on the smoke. Obviously, it is hard to estimate whether these effects are from an individual bag or are inherent to the brand/type.

Click to expand...

Traeger also uses alder as the base wood for their pellets (at least they did when I worked for them a few years ago), so maybe that explains the closer performance to the MAK pellets.