Thanks for the warm welcome DrHolly!
And thanks for your input 1bigg ER. I'll give you a little background to know why I asked you about the compressed logs. I'm an expat Texan (Mt. Pleasant to be exact. Not to far from your neck of the woods.) living in France looking to show everyone around here what all the fuss concerning Texas BBQ is about.
After a long and exhaustive search, I settled on the KBQ.
Over here I can readily get Oak and Birch (very similar to white oak) in normal split form or in compressed sawdust form (like a giant pellet). The compressed form is common over here for heating and wood fired oven needs. I never saw them back home, so they were never on my radar until recently.
Considering we all desire the most controlable smoking process possible, I began to think these giant 100% sawdust oak logs migt provide just that (-8% water, 1.5-2 hours burn time, no bark, no dirt, no nothing).
Of course the main issue is regarding the coaling as it ashes to basically nothing.
I'm all for tried and true splits, but I'm also all for optimizing my cook in everyway possible. Thought this might be an idea to kick around with the resident expert! ;-)