Jason,
I've smoked chipotles (jalapenos), Anchos (Poblanos), as well as NM Chili, etc...
My preference its to split the chili (speeds up the drying), place on pizza screens that are stacked with wooden spacers and smoked at a low temp, then they are allowed to continue to fully dry. As far as how much smoke? Shortest I've gone is five or six hours - longest, a couple of days with an on and off fire.
You can finish in a really low oven, a dehydrator or I've even left them in the smoker in the sun to finish the drying process. Point being you want to remove "almost" all the moisture before storing them. The preference is for pliable rather then crisp, although I usually end up with some of those as well.