Low smoke flavor

[Poppa D]

I use a Traeger to pellet smoke. I consistently get low smoke flavor. I have adjusted the vent chimney but still low smoke flavor. Plenty of smoke but little flavor, suggestions?

 

[squirtthecat]

Are you using Traeger pellets?

 

[So Cal Smoker]

Change Pellets. Sounds like the ones you're using have no flavor.

 

[Poppa D]

Yes I am using traeger pellets. Do I have better options? Love the simplicity.

 

[squirtthecat]

Traeger pellets are Alder based, with some funky oils to provide the 'flavor'.

Check out BBQrs Delight. They are oak based. I burn a combination of their Hickory and Cherry with great results.

 

[Poppa D]

Have you ever used the wine soaked Big Pappa pellets?

 

[squirtthecat]

I've got some in the hopper as we speak. Nice rich flavor.

 

[Poppa D]

Will try this ASAP thanks for the help.

 

[scooter]

Poppa D, you live in FL which means the Traeger pellets you're buying are oak based unless you bought them online from a west coast source? Traeger has two manufacturing points for their pellets, the west coast plant uses alder as the base and the east coast plant uses oak as its base.
You may be among the pellet pit owners who will find that no matter what pellet you use, it just won't produce that deep smoke flavor you get from non pellet cookers. You may need to look into a smoke generator to help out in the two weakest areas for pellet cookers, anything cooked under 3 hours and anything cooked over 325. A smoke generator will give you options.
Anyway, some pellet pit owners appreciate the very mild smoke flavoring a pellet pit gives. It's a source of comfort for some pitmasters to know that no matter how long they smoke something in their pellet pits, they'll never over smoke anything with it.
While others appreciate a deeper smoke footprint in their meats. A smoke generator like a Smoke Daddy may be what you need.

 

[Big Poppa]

Scooter while you were away the tube smoker hit like the beatles on ed sullivan...really cool little deal

 

[scooter]

I saw it. It looks to me to be a tube version of the Amazin. I see some pos/negs about it. Bottom line for me would be the small amount of smoke it produces which appears to be similar to the Amazin. The Smoke Daddy smokes like a freight train but it has it's pos/negs as well.

 

[SmokinMAK]

I have used the Amazin tube, and it gives me more of the "stick burner" smoke flavor - especially using BBQD 100% flavorwood pellets. Light that thing up and stick it in the back of my 2 star and no one is going to tell me there isn't PLENTY of smoke. ;-)

 

[RickB]

What he said.

 

[scooter]

I meant in comparison to a smoke daddy. I've only seen videos of the output of the square amazin so no first hand experience with it, just video. It seemed to trickle smoke out compared with the large volumes of smoke output of a smoke daddy and the amazen was lit in three places. Just IMO. This is not a knock on the amazen.
If the output of the amazen gets you to where you want to be then that's all that matters really. I see how much smoke my SD pushes and it's many, many times more than an amazen and it gets me to where I want to be with smoke flavor but not overly so. If I didn't have that very large volume of smoke I have doubts I'd get to where I'd want to be flavor wise but each to his own.
I think the amazen looks to work great for cold smoking where the pellet pit is turned off but when the pit is on and the fan is blowing the smoke out of the pit, I want huge volumes to counteract that. Again, IMO.

If you would like to see how much smoke out of my SD I'm talking about, I'll shoot a video and post this weekend.

 

[ajstrider]

I have both an Amazing smoker and the Amazing tube smoker. I've lit the Amazing smoker in two places, and the Tube smoker still outputs more smoke than that. I am sure it is not as much as the Smoke Daddy, but the Tube smoker seems much more efficient at smoking than the normal Amazing smoker.

 

[muebe]

I have a smoke daddy & Amazn tube smoker and it does create more smoke than the Amazn but it requires a pump to operate. And you will need to drill a large hole into your grill to install it. It creates more smoke using less pellets than Amazn. But Amazn wins on simplicity of installation and ease of use.