I regularly use lump in my WSM. I typically get great shoulders and
chicken halves. Life is good.

This time I think I got overly aggressive on the lower vents and
closed them too much while trying to achieve a controlled temperature
rise. This time the smoke smelled like burning newspaper and the
chicken I just pulled off was nasty. A total loss. It tastes like
it was cooked over a fire made with newspaper.

Is this a result of incomplete burning caused by me starving the fire
of oxygen too long? Has anyone else experienced this? Will my pork
shoulder survive or will it be a loss too? ;-(

I'd hate to eat pizza tonight. -sigh-

--
Better living through smoking.

"Heavy_Smoker" > wrote in message

> Is this a result of incomplete burning caused by me starving the fire
> of oxygen too long? Has anyone else experienced this? Will my pork
> shoulder survive or will it be a loss too? ;-(

Yes, you have to keep the fire burning hotter. Better to have a small hot
fire than a large amount of fuel smoldering. Hard to say what the effects
will be on the shoulder, but at least you found the problem and can correct
it.

Edwin Pawlowski said

> "Heavy_Smoker" > wrote in message
>
>> Is this a result of incomplete burning caused by me starving the
>> fire of oxygen too long? Has anyone else experienced this?
>> Will my pork shoulder survive or will it be a loss too? ;-(
>
> Yes, you have to keep the fire burning hotter. Better to have a
> small hot fire than a large amount of fuel smoldering. Hard to
> say what the effects will be on the shoulder, but at least you
> found the problem and can correct it.

Thanks. The shoulder turned out ok. The chicken - bleh. ;-)

--
Better living through smoking.