Charles,
I was moving grills last night and came across my "wiggle rod".
Started thinking about your experiment and how it relates to long low & slow cooks in the KK versus my Primo's & Kamado Joe.
The wiggle rod is a must have/use tool when I have done long cooks in the past on the Primo & KJ without temp. controllers. If I didn't knock the ash off the coals, using the wiggle rod thru the bottom air vent, the fire would die or the cooking temp drop drastically. Some members on the Primo site would actually lift their table and jolt it down to knock the ash off. And that was just on one long cook.
You are 6 cooks into your experiment and still have not experienced an issue. You didn't come out and say it.....but this experiment would not have gone more than 2...maybe 3 cooks on another brand kamado.
That great KK feature of having 100% air flow go through the charcoal!!!!!!
Another wonderful, cost saving advantage of cooking on a KK......no "wiggle rods"
I have a lot of money invested in this wiggle rod and now it is obsolete.........