An idea combining PBC and tube smoker

[Paul Hart]

Tell me what you think.
Here's a possible plan. Fill the basket level. Remove the 40 coals, but light only 20 in the chimney. Get an A-maz-en tube smoker lit (the short one) and then dump all the lit coals on ONE side of the basket only. Put the tube smoker away from the lit charcoals on the other side. Hang ribs, put on the lid.
I'm hoping for lower heat for a little bit and enough time to get some wood smoke going really nice. 45 min maybe? And then lighting the other 20 and dumping them in on the other side and starting to the full on cook. How fast will the lit ones light and work their way around the basket?

Or...

How long could I safely let the ribs hang with an unlit charcoal basket and just a lit tube? I'm betting I could go an hour or so at least (maybe 90 min?) because they are about to get hit with hours of high heat anyway, so any surface bacteria that may bloom during the cold smoke period should be sent packing within a short bit anyay. Right?

I'm going to attempt a cold smoke with the tube of some cheddar and mozzerella cheese and some sea salt with apple wood in the PBC here soon. Wish me luck. Wonder if I could hang hard cheeses? Ha! I think itll work!

[muebe]

It will cold smoke fine but using it for cooking in the PBC is not advisable IMHO.

Just wrap a small chunk of wood in foil with one hole poked in it(Cliff's advice) and place in the coal bed.

Should give you some nice smoke.

Your better off switching to lump charcoal IMHO but there is a learning curve to it. Lump burns differently and hotter.

[1Bigg_ER]

If you insist on adding smoke, start with a single chunk buried directly under where most of your lit coals will land.
Do not place it above the lit coals, it will smolder and produce nasty smoke.

[Hub]

Good suggestions here already.  The PBC is not designed for white smoke production at all.  If you must oversmoke, seek a different device.

Hub

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Good suggestions here already.  The PBC is not designed for white smoke production at all.  If you must oversmoke, seek a different device.

Hub

I agree with Hub on this one, look into a WSM by Weber you can get it to smoke as much or as little as you want depending on how many wood chunks are added to the coals.

[teesquare]

The PBC is not a smoker. You will get "charcoal pit" flavor - which can be as good - as wood smoke - depending on your taste preference. It is really considered a "power cooker" - and designed to operate above the true smoking temps, but below the temps we prefer to gill. It really has it's own unique place in your arsenal.

You could add a chunk of wood as described above - but, most of us have tried it - and not found it beneficial in added flavor.