Yet another crispy skin question

It baffles me sometimes doing chicken, for instance, yesterday I did some wings on the WSM 22, started with a chimney of unlit K-ford and dumped a full lit chimney on top and spread it around a little with a couple small pieces of apple wood, let everything run for awhile then put the wings on, temps went up to 290 where I left it alone for about 1/2hr. then pulled the water bowl which was empty which ran the temps up to 340 and even though the wings tasted fantastic the skin still didn't get crispy enough to bite through. I preped the wings about 4 hrs. before cooking and had them rubbed with a little canola oil and seasoning. I had also split 2 chickens seasoned the same way with the oil and seasoning but did them on my Traeger, the skin on the chicken halves was crispier than the wings and there was only about a 20 degree difference in cooking temps, is the softer skin due to the smoke? I always thought that with a higher temp the smoke wouldn't matter. Any input is appreciated and thanks.

Don, I have never had much luck getting crispy skin in the WSM. I do on the other hand get crispier wings on my kettle. I build a fire in the centre of the kettle and lay them in a circle around the outside and turn them end for end once. I think you need 350 degrees. I don't eat a lot of skin except for when I cook wings.

Don , I truly don't believe that the smoke is the difference. It has to be the temp of the fire and how quickly and completely the fat is rendered out of that skin. Like gary says , you need heat to get crispy skin. If I cook chicken on my WSM I go no water pan right from the get go and all vents wide open. I usually cook on the top grate , but sometimes (especially for bone in chicken) I will drop down to the bottom grate for the last few minutes. I think the skin comes out pretty well this way.

Frank H said:

... sometimes (especially for bone in chicken) I will drop down to the bottom grate for the last few minutes. I think the skin comes out pretty well this way.

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I have had really good luck finishing chicken this way on the WSM. Also adds some high heat flavor to it....

For some reason I have great success with wings on the WSM but i know others do not. I usually throw one lit chimney of kings on some loose unlit, add a piece of apple and let them rip for close to two hours with no water in the pan. temps hover around 300. I prep them with canola and cajun seasoning or old bay. they come out super crispy and tasty and I have done them like this about 6 times so far.

The only way I can get crispy skin is when I'm done smoking them I put the top charcoal grate on top of the smokers charcoal ring and do quick sear.

Thats why I thought if I cranked up the temp for the last part of the cook the skin would crisp and thats what was making me think that it has something to do with the smoke itself because I get crisp if I just grill on my CG or hiheat on the Traeger. Not complaing mind you because as I said they taste great just was hoping the skin would have stayed put after going through the hot sauce toss. I guess I'll just have to try some more wings only this time no baffle between fire and food, dang, what we won't put up with in the name of perfection...snicker snicker..