Lack of visible smoke from Traeger Timberline Pellet Smoker

[djdolan67]

I just acquired a new Traeger Timberline 850 a couple of months ago and I have used it about 5 times or so to smoke various meats. I have used hickory, apple, oak and a gourmet blend (maple, hickory and cherry wood) pellets. In all cases VERY LITTLE smoke was seen coming out of the smoker, including when the grill door is open. This is when using the Super Smoke mode as well. Although I find this very strange the meats I have smoked have turned out tasty and all have had a decent smoke ring. I don't understand how this can be, but I am used to using a wood/charcoal fired smoker, and of course there is plenty of visual smoke with this type of machine. At times I have wanted to increase the smoke intensity and flavor of the meats but Super Smoke is the only "tool" available on this machine. I have checked several times with Traeger Customer Service and they say this is "normal". I'm not convinced that it is normal since there has to be smoke produced when wood is burned (whether it is sticks or pellets), and the lack of visible smoke with this machine is both puzzling, and frankly, disappointing, especially not being able to control the amount of smoke the meat is exposed to.

Has anyone else had this issue with a pellet smoker? Does anyone have any thoughts on why this condition exists? Thank you in advance for your thoughts and advice.

[realdocBBQ]

Yup, pellets don't make as much smoke. But they're tasty! My Traeger will put out more notable smoke at the lower settings, but it's never anything like a stickburner.

[CaptainMike]

I have an older Traeger and it does put out some smoke. However, as it goes through it's burn cycle at times there can very little to no visible smoke. It's the blessing and curse of a pellet pooper in that it is difficult to over-smoke most food, but sometimes they don't impart quite enough for some tastes. For my tastes it does pork and beef roasts (brisket included) very well, but if I want a smokier finish with a deeper bark I go to the W22 w/SnS, or a combination of both.

[Nate]

1. Welcome from Indiana

2. You should not be seeing a lot of smoke.... clean smoke is a very faint light blue to almost invisible. If thick smoke is pouring out of my smoker (pellet, stick, charcoal) then something is wrong...

3. Smoke does NOT equal a Smoke Ring (and vice versa)... there are articles on the free side of site about smoke and smoke rings that would be recommended reading.

4. A pellet smoker will not give you a heavy smoke flavor no matter what setting you put it on.... some people buy additional devices like the Amaz'N Pellet Tubes to try to supplement but still not going to get that heavy smoke flavor.

[Troutman]

Keep your temps down 200* and below and you’ll get some decent smoke, above that forget it. Get yourself a smoker tube or tray for added smoke.

As far as the smoke ring is concerned it’s a result of the combustion gases reaching with the meat, it’s not a smoke thing.

Pellet poopers are great convection ovens that produce great results in their own right, more subtle then a true smoker. You seem to be experiencing predictable results.

[djdolan67]

Thanks for the quick reply, tRidiot. I agree with the taste part in your reply but at times I would like to enhance the smoke flavor being infused into the meat but there doesn't seem to be any way to do that, at least not with any of the controls on the machine. My machine does not seem to produce any more smoke no matter what temperature I select or whether it is in the Super Smoke mode.

[djdolan67]

Thanks also to CaptainMike, Nate and Troutman for your replies, and the education on the "smoke ring". I'll check out the additonal info on that topic. Bottom line, guess I'll just have to get used to the smoke output of the pellet machine.

[Sweaty Paul]

You could as Nate said utilize an Amazn' Smoke tube for smokies flavor. Good luck and have fun.

[Butchman]

I had a Traeger and in my experience if you started a cook on the low smoke setting you’ll get a lot more smoke. Do this for about the first half hour to an hour them crank up the temp to finish cooking the meat.
Going from high temp to lower smoke temps takes forever since the auger basically stops feeding pellets until the lower temp is reached. Another fix is to buy a smoking tube.

[djdolan67]

Thanks, Butchman. I think I'll give the smoking tube a try.

[EdF]

Check out that pouch thing too! In the reviews section.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[CaptainMike]

Thanks for the nudge, BTW. My P-rig up and quit on me about 2 months ago and, with life and such, I went back to the W22 for all things grilling. Spent the day trouble shooting and figured out it's the hot rod that went bad. Easy and cheap fix, but probably would have procrastinated further without the nudge of your post. Thang yoo, thangyooverymuuuch...

[Powersmoke_80]

Smoke is created from incomplete combustion, a pellet grill uses forced air for combustion so it burns the gasses more complete. You will get lite puffs of smoke when the pellets are first introduced into the fire pot and smolder for a few seconds before they ignite but is faint and hard to see. some people add chunks next to the firepot for additional smoke also but it's all good.

[Oakgrovebacon]

Welcome to the pit from Southern Illinois

[DWCowles]

weicome djdolan67

[djdolan67]

Thanks to everyone for your instructive and kind comments. I bought a pellet smoke tube and it works great. I'll give some of the other suggestions a try as well! Thanks again, everyone!