Hey guys, I have a problem and need some help. Lately, I have been experiencing a new problem that I have never encountered before. I thought I would ask everyone here and see if anyone else has ever had this same issue before? Here it is...
I have a 22" WSM. I filled the charcoal ring full of unlit Kingsford briquettes in the blue bag. I lit a full chimney using only Weber wax lighter cubes. After I got the chimney lit, I poured the hot charcoal over the cold briquettes in the ring and got it going good via the "minion method". After about 30 minutes, I opened the front access door and threw in a couple of chunks of dry smoke wood on top of the hot briquettes in the charcoal ring and closed it up. Almost immediately, as expected, the wood chunks started to produce smoke. The problem I'm having is that the smoke I'm generating is real dirty, thick, dense smoke that has almost a slight green color to it? It looks like smoke that you'd see coming out of a factory in Pittsburgh, not a bbq smoker.
When I saw the thick dirty smoke, I took the wood chunks out of the smoker and replaced them with a different type of wood - same result. I took that wood out and tried another type of wood - same result! I tried oak, cherry, apple, pecan, and hickory; I got the same result each time. Does anyone have any idea what's causing this problem? Why am I getting thick, dirty green smoke instead of thin, clean, blue smoke? I have tried leaving the wood in longer thinking the smoke will eventually thin out and start burning cleanly, but it never does. I have tried every combination with the vents wide open, 1/2 open, 1/4 open, etc.
I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but the Kingsford charcoal I'm using was purchased in June of 2011 when my local Home Depot was running a hot price on Kingsford. At the time, I purchased 75 bags and it has taken me 7 years to burn through 70 of them. I'm down to my last 5 bags. This problem has only started recently while using these last few bags of Kingsford. The charcoal has been stored inside my garage the entire time, stacked up against the back inside wall which is the furthest point away from the door so it has never gotten wet, but it has certainly been exposed to damp, humid air being inside my garage for 7 winters and 7 summers. The bags were always unopened until it was time to use them. The garage door has been kept closed about 98% of the time in the last 7 years.
Is it possible that the thick dirty smoke is due to the charcoal being old, damp, or full of moisture? Has anyone ever heard of charcoal getting "old or stale"? Is this even possible? Is it the wood that's causing the problem? (The wood I'm using is Weber smoking wood sold at Home Depot). I have been using this same smoker for years and I have never had this problem before until recently. Any help, suggestions, ideas, or theories would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.