This was on youtube so I thought....

[Pete Watt Scottish Border]

I would try it out as I had pellets bought in error. But it turns out unless I am missing something obvious this tube doesn't work. In an hour it went out 5 times and of course I am losing my heat each time I relight it. Am I missing something please?

Pete

 

[Chris Allingham]

I’ve not had that problem, perhaps others will chime in.

 

[DanHoo]

Pete, if I use pellets I stand the tube up vertically, light it with a torch on three sides and leave it standing lit for a few minutes. I think I read five minutes yet I don't really time it.

With gloves ( the tube is now HOT ) I hold the tube, blow out the flame and then gently set it on its side. My smoke tube has one side with no holes, and I have this side down.

When I use it on my BGE or my WSK I put the smoke tube below the food grate. Often I'll cold smoke a tri tip for an hour with just the smoke tube, and then light coal later keeping the smoke tube going in addition to coal. I put the coal in char baskets toward the back with the smoke tube leaning on the CBs with the un-lit end towards the front and then cook indirect with the meat towards the front.

Hope this helps. The key is letting the burn get started with the tube vertical.

Please post an update if this works or if you still have more questions. I keep learning by reading what others are doing.


edit: here's a pic. I used wood chips in this cook, but its the same method.

Getting it started:



cold smoke phase: note: I am using the kick ash basket from my large BGE to hold the coal. It conveniently had oak lump leftover.



After an hour of cold smoking I lit a small amount of coal with a torch, and slowly brought temps up to 200 or 250F

Once it came up to temp I dumped what was left of the chips on the coals and finished the cook.





The rest of the cook is here if you want to see the ending

A torch, gasser, smoke tube and a coal burner ...

A torch, gasser, smoke tube and a coal burner...

tvwbb.com

 

[Pete Watt Scottish Border]

Many thanks so off to let the heat out again though as I am using a snake for a brisket it don't really matter much. Ok so firing it up vertically seems to make a huge difference or at least after twenty minutes there is still smoke apparent. Many thanks again.

Pete

 

[TimA]

I have a smoker tube, oval in shape. I can’t get it to stay lit either.

 

[Steve-G]

Pete, if I use pellets I stand the tube up vertically, light it with a torch on three sides and leave it standing lit for a few minutes. I think I read five minutes yet I don't really time it.

With gloves ( the tube is now HOT ) I hold the tube, blow out the flame and then gently set it on its side. My smoke tube has one side with no holes, and I have this side down.

When I use it on my BGE or my WSK I put the smoke tube below the food grate. Often I'll cold smoke a tri tip for an hour with just the smoke tube, and then light coal later keeping the smoke tube going in addition to coal. I put the coal in char baskets toward the back with the smoke tube leaning on the CBs with the un-lit end towards the front and then cook indirect with the meat towards the front.

Hope this helps. The key is letting the burn get started with the tube vertical.

Please post an update if this works or if you still have more questions. I keep learning by reading what others are doing.


edit: here's a pic. I used wood chips in this cook, but its the same method.

Getting it started:

View attachment 74718

cold smoke phase: note: I am using the kick ash basket from my large BGE to hold the coal. It conveniently had oak lump leftover.

View attachment 74719

After an hour of cold smoking I lit a small amount of coal with a torch, and slowly brought temps up to 200 or 250F

Once it came up to temp I dumped what was left of the chips on the coals and finished the cook.


View attachment 74720


The rest of the cook is here if you want to see the ending

A torch, gasser, smoke tube and a coal burner ...

A torch, gasser, smoke tube and a coal burner...

tvwbb.com

Awesome response Dan. I do pretty much the exact same procedure and have about a 95% success rate.

 

[Bob Bailey]

I would try it out as I had pellets bought in error. But it turns out unless I am missing something obvious this tube doesn't work. In an hour it went out 5 times and of course I am losing my heat each time I relight it. Am I missing something please?

Pete

I've got a hexagonal tube that looks like yours and had problems with it going out before I learned how to properly light it. I stand it up and use a propane torch to light the pellets about 1" from the top and on at least 3 sides. Keep the torch on it until you have a strong flame and then let it burn for at least 5 additional minutes before blowing the flame out and laying it down on the grate. The strong flame is key. If you're using it in a pellet grill, be sure the heavy smoke has burnt off before putting it in or the pellets in the tube may be smothered.

 

[Brett-EDH]

Lighting the smoke tube. As described above.

100% success rate.

Post in thread 'Cold smoked salmon (lox) in about 2 days'
https://tvwbb.com/threads/cold-smoked-salmon-🍣-lox-in-about-2-days.93203/post-1069869

 

[Steve-G]

Awesome response Dan. I do pretty much the exact same procedure and have about a 95% success rate.

I should probably mention that the one time it didn't work (the 5%) was because apparently I didn't blow the flame out all the way. I thought I did and stuck it in the grill. An hour later I checked on it and my pellets were all turned to ash.

 

[Pete Watt Scottish Border]

Thanks people but I tried the methods above and with monotonous regularity, it went out. And it went out with in minutes. It's going back as not fit for purpose.

 

[Mike-BBQ]

Great info! My smoke tube is round, and I have always lit it with the torch while it was laying on its side. I will try it vertical next time. I wanted to give some smoke flavor to things on my new W435

 

[Steve-G]

Thanks people but I tried the methods above and with monotonous regularity, it went out. And it went out with in minutes. It's going back as not fit for purpose.

I'm not trying to persuade you one way or another, but if Dan's method didn't work, you may have a batch of bad pellets or they got a little damp. I have the exact same hexagon smoke tube as you and it is a solid design. It has worked with many different brands of pellets, but usually Pit Boss, Kirkland, and Lumberjack. I sometimes even mix in some wood chips in layers in the tube for extra flavor.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.

 

[MikeCantell]

When you catch the wife not home, plate the pellets then into the microwave for 2 minutes, NO LONGer lol. they will light easier I put shag bark from a hickory in my tube and stuff pellets in with it.

 

[Bob Bass]

Are there any air flow issues ?

 

[Pete Watt Scottish Border]

The weather yesterday was pretty still with high humidity. The pellets are in an outside shed so they may be a touch damp to be fair, after all this is Scotland..... I'll try the microwave and then another trial run. What was infuriating was the constant opening and closing during a brisket trial. I got it to 68C the target being 70 and ran out of time so took it off and wrapped in foil. Then the following day cooked it up to the 90C. I can tell you that it was very dark and has a bit of a bark on it, and is succulent to the melt in the mouth point. Neatly set off just as we were about to serve up with a bloody power cut due to lightening. Our first brisket that is anywhere near to that the vids and books say. What worked very well was the snake of briquettes.

 

[Pete Watt Scottish Border]

So today I put some pellets in the smoker tin and set them over the briquette snake. ~After two hours they felt too hot to touch so I poured them into the smoker hex and set fire to it. What a difference, they blazed up and kept flaming until with some effort I blew them out. That was over two hours ago and I took this photo some five minutes ago. Success! I have reviewed the product again stressing the dryness and suggesting the packaging should stress this too. Not all of us live in desert conditions after all.

 

[Andy Kaminski]

I’m glad you had success .
As others have mentioned these tubes work good on fish.
I personally am not a fan of hot smoked fish when cold smoked is available.
l have had good luck using my smoke tube on trout and might even try it on panfish.

I spend my summers in a marine environment up in the PNW and it’s not always dry here .
What I do is fill up the tube, hold/secure it vertically and ignite it with my map gas soldering torch.
After it is lit well or at least well enough I put it below the grate of my weber performer In my SnS basket on an angle to keep the pellets from spilling out.
I have had to use a small electric blower to get it smoking good a couple of times.
I think the next time I go to our primary house I will bring back an extra bellows smoke blower from my bee hives.
I think a bee hive smoker would be perfect for hard to start items like this or even briquettes and they are cheap enough.
All the best.
Andy.

 

[RichPB (richlife)]

Another who is glad it's worked out. Here in NC it's warmer but constantly humid. I keep my pellets in a bin with plastic clamps at each end and have had no difficulties with starting the tube. I wouldn't want to leave the pellets in an open bin. But you've apparently found you answers. It's definitely a lot easier with a propane torch. Butane lighter is questionable.