Tyler, how did you light your briquettes on your first smoke with the other smoker? Did you put lighter fluid on them while they were in your smoker and light them that way? I'm assuming you were using Kingsford briqs.
I've never had a problem like that using briqs, and I've cooked ribs in my Weber 18" kettle before I got my WSM, and I'm willing to bet that the room between the charcoal and the meat in that is no more than in your first smoker.
And it could be you just got a bad batch of briquettes, or the match-lights were placed in a regular bag. I'm sure it happens from time to time. As for the exact cause to the chemical taste, I can't say for sure, but my guess would be a bad/mislabeled batch of charcoal.
I want to stress, though: if you don't want to use briqs, don't. As Dave said, lump is fine in the WSM. If you would prefer to use lump, then don't let anyone here talk you out of it. I chimed in earlier just to let you know that if you start out using lump in the WSM, you might get frustrated a bit at first with the temperature control given the fact that lump burns more inconsistently than briqs. I started using lump in the WSM after one cook, and I'd wished I'd stayed with briqs until I learned how my WSM operated a little bit better, and I just wanted to warn you about that.
But, yeah, use whatever fuel source you like, and don't let anyone tell you your choice is wrong or that you should be using something else. Like alot of stuff, the choice of fuel comes down to personal preferences, and those are almost never wrong.