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I would suggest more lump than 1 small piece, I'd use several pieces and get that going really well first. and if your KK is running around 225F or so you should have enough draft to keep it going along with the pump. Once it's going add some of your smoking wood. Then when you see that is going add more of your smoking wood. I find using the Milwalkee compact blower on one of the holes at the bottom will get the coals really going. I just use a very small volume of air and it takes off. I Find that if the KK is running under 200F that it is harder to get the smoker going, I guess not enough draft.

Howdy, I have an older Kamado ... The company has since gone out of business. It is still in fair shape but when it fails I would love to replace it with a Komodo Kamado. Stay tuned. Steve

Why I thought the hottest day of the summer that I'd make bread and 2 pizzas I'll never know. I guess it must have been the thought of trying a tip Syzygies mentioned. He used a controller to keep the KK steady at 450F for a bread bake. I figured that I might as well do pizzas since the KK was already hot. I didn't up the temp after the bread bake and next time I will bump it to 475F. I just wasn't sure there would be enough lump left to do that but I am pretty sure there would have been. I have not used this controller for 5+ years but it still worked perfectly. Bread ready to bake. Baked. The crumb. Pizza 1 These little tomatoes just give you a burst of warm juice when you bite into them. Pizza 2

Thanks for the ideas Here is crate. Ready to be opened ... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Now that the thought is in your head, I will place the over/under at 30 days. Don't fight it.

I'm sure that's part of my problem with doing cold smoking (no fire in the KK) or really low temp smoking (150F). So, I'll try using more lit charcoal pieces next time along with pellets. I've got a 4.5 lb pork belly brining away to make more bacon, so I'll get a chance to practice on Monday.

I've tried several things to keep the chips going - a small lit piece of charcoal, starter cubes, and blasts from the MAPP torch through the side holes. I think that you're going to find that the medium chips are too big. My next cold smoke session will incorporate smoking pellets mixed in with the Fruita wood chips to see if that helps.

At least you'll be able to go scarf some up, Robert, seeing as the palettes will arrive in your back yard!

Your RJ appears to be in pretty good shape, plus I love your back drop! Get a kk, it'll make the background look much better. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Awesome! This made me laugh a lot, as I had thought of selling the earrings to fund the more extreme end of my KK fantasies. Happily The Husband was generous - both in giving up his Argentinian grill dream AND funding two KKs when he had originally offered me one. So...the earrings are still in the safe and will come out for the KK's' arrival.

tekobo, I had what I thought was a brain wave today and hope you think so too. A pix of you wearing your 40th ear rings accepting the arrival of your 50th , the KKs.

My grocer has them both in 1 lb bags and loose in the shipping box, which clearly says Hatch on it, so I'm not concerned about fakes. They tend to range in size from 4 -5" to up to 7 - 8" in length, all are similar in size in width - 1" at the stem.

When I do low and slow, I generally use cocochar and add in 1-2 large chunks of smoking wood for flavor. Let's just say 'oak' for the sake of this discussion... I usually heat soak the KK, then add the oak chunks about 45 minutes before I want to put the meat on...to give it time for the smoke to mellow out. Do you too hate waiting for the oak to get through that initial acrid / big white billowy smoke phase? Well, I've recently started 'pre-charring' the chunks with a MAAP torch, very quickly, just blackening all sides... Guess what...smoke is clean and blue from that point forward... I can't believe I didn't think to try this before. I've done it 3 times now with great results. And no, if it fully ignites, it won't instantly burn up, just take the torch off of it and flip it with a pair of tongs...when you close the lid it will settle. There are always remnants of these large chunks in the basket the next day if I've remembered to shut everything down -- so this doesn't accelerate the burn rate of the chunks enough to matter to your cook.

Charles, you'd better be careful if Susan hears you talking about liking "strange." @tekobo - Check out Meathead's book, too. He's the head guy over at Amazing Ribs, one of our favorite BBQ websites here.

Now you've gone and done it. I like strange (non American) twists on food. We're waiting........ LOL

@tekobo Really looking forward to following along with your adventures on the new kk's. They are phenomenal cookers.

If I was to summarise all the advice that I have received, I would say that a KK is indeed able to satisfy all your grilling needs but two or three KKs will do it even better and you should definitely maximise your real estate from the start. With that in mind, I should have gone for the maximum I could fit into our chimney space. Having measured up the area, we could actually get a 32" in with a 19"TT alongside sitting on a piece of furniture that would give us good storage space underneath. That would be the logical choice. The good news is that your various posts and utter passion about your particular choices reminded me of why I have loved KKs for so long. They attracted me for their beauty. So I went with what spoke to me. I adore the shape of the 23". And I prefer the idea of another free standing KK next to it, rather than a TT. I love the idea that Dennis has put all his expertise and experience into the new 21". I'll be getting one of the first. It won't be perfect and I am sure Dennis will refine and evolve it over the years but I am OK with that. I will have two new friends in my garden that will take my breath away whenever I look at, touch or use them. I am looking forward to that feeling.

It might be a bit smaller goat.. Rob