lump vs wood cont'd.

Mike,
I think a lot depends on the cooker you are using. I have cooked on a half dozen offset designs and sizes and every one has it's own unique air flow and problems. With my large trailer rig, I started a pile of lump to get up to temp and then added two splits. As those burned down, I added one split and continued this for the duration. I could maintain a good even temp and clean fire this way. However, I tried this in my Bandera once and skunked my cooker pretty bad. With that small fire and limited air flow, it was hard to control a perfect fire without getting some creosote from constantly lighting new logs.

Now after a lot of practice and experience I was able to make it work in the Bandera, but it took time. I had to switch to one inch long strips of wood and keep the vents wide open to make this work. The fire burnt fast with all this air, the temps were higher than I wanted and it required CONSTANT tending, but I did it! In the end, I decided I would enjoy the process more using lump and adding wood chunks to the fire.

Merrill