How Does a Pellet Smoker Tube Work? (Smoking Guide)

How a pellet tube smoker is simple, there are quite a few different ways that you can use it, which I want to go over.

I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with pellet tube smoking both cold smoking and hot smoking on various different types of smokers for 20 years.

I looked around for the right type of material to make my own pellet tube, but after a while, I decided to order one online (I’ll give you a summary below).

How Does a Smoker Tube Work?

Filling a pellet tube with wood chips or pellet wood. You ignite one end of the tube with a butane torch. Blow out the flame, place the tube in the smoking area, and the pellet tube will smoke and smolder for 2-5 hours depending on length.

Pellet Tube Smokers – In Detail

I want to highlight and review the details since this can be a handy and helpful tool for someone who wants to either cold smoke or boost an existing hot smoker.

How Do I Use a Pellet Smoker?

Fill the pellet tube with wood pellets or wood chips, smaller sized wood is better. Sawdust is a bit too small, I have all sorts of smoking wood. I used wood-chipped grape wood but it went out often. So I mixed it with apple wood pellets and it burned very nicely.

So pretty much you just get one end of the pellet tube lit with a decent lighter. You can’t use a normal lighter to do this you have to get a Brulé torch or butane torch.

You always light the pellet tube vertically, then once it’s properly lit, the wood is going to burn with some embers. You can place the pellet tube horizontally. Here are some pics to give you a better idea of the process, the learning curve is pretty easy.

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When I have run out of gas in the torch I use, sometimes I use a gas grill burner or a camping stove (but I fully don’t recommend doing it this way, it’s a little bit dangerous, better to use the right tool for the job).

You do need to have the flame burning for at least five or six minutes sometimes longer depending on if it’s windy or not – and what type of wood.

Most of the instructions I’ve seen say roughly about 7 to 8 minutes of letting the open flame burn, you just learn as you use it.

Then you blow out the flame, and you have a quality smoky flavor! I’m going to deep dive into the techniques that I’ve used, the main thing I’ve used a pellet tube for is cold smoking.

I’ve also used a pellet tube for low & slow in-direct smoking on a gas grill.

Lastly, I’ve used a pellet tube to boost the amount of smoke in my pellet smoker.

DIY Pellet Tube – How to Make a Pellet Smoker

Before I bought my pellet tube, I thought I would try and make one. Since I looked at its design, it seemed a pretty simple construction, basically a perforated metal tube.

The best thing I found was a motorcycle exhaust baffle, so I went around some motorcycle shops and asked. They directed me to some exhaust and mechanic-type places.

But the standard car exhaust baffle was too large and diameter and also the perforations were too spread out. I thought this would not allow as much oxygen to fuel the fire and let the combustion burn cleanly, They were also a bit “industrial” for a bit of backyard smoking action.

So after too many hours of trying to locate a specific motorcycle-size baffle, as I said I just ordered one online (below will highlight my research). I was actually quite surprised by how reasonable the prices were too.

How Much Does a Tube Smoker Cost?

I realized that most of the time thereunder $20. But I think you do need to check that at least 304 stainless steel. There was one in a BBQ store I saw for $40, it was branded.

Choosing a Pellet Tube Size and Shape

Now as simple as a perforated piece of metal sounds, there are just a couple of factors that make a pellet tube a little bit more functional I feel.

Shape

Probably the most common ones I found online were round, but some friends had already purchased these and told me they can be a bit of a pain since they roll around if you using them on gas grills for instance.

If you go for a pellet tube that’s flat on one side then it provides a better footing position for stability.

Length

I checked out a telescopic one, which was pretty cool. But it was in the shop and the price was a little too high I felt. It seems most of the time you either have six-inch or 12-inch sizing, and I have seen a 4-inch as well.

I imagine a 4-inch pellet tube would only be good for a very short-term smoking boost. You may get 1-3 hours depending on the type of smoking wood fuel you use.

(I wouldn’t believe any smoke tube gets 8 hours from 12″ length.

Some of the stronger harder types of smoking wood like oak, mesquite, or hickory – tend to burn slower so there is some variation, but not 8 hours in my experience.

Different Types of Pellet Tube Smokers

Here are the best I have seen below, basically, 12 inches with a flat side, had a lot of decent reviews, and worked very well.

I did a bit of research, and you can find the top picks I wrote a bit more about – check out the page here.

Pellet Tube in Smokers (Using Various Smokers)

DIY Cheap Kettle Grill Smoker

Now you can see here a picture of a pellet tube underneath an incredibly cheap kettle grill, this was one of the first prototypes for using a pellet chewed, yes I know it looks pretty rough but it did the job very nicely.

Producing these fine cold-smoked venison loin and cold-smoked pancetta.

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An easy addition to an electric, gas, or pellet grill smoker – pellet tube or maze style smokers I have really grown very fond of. Cold Smoking especially is a mystery to a lot of people, and of course, people are scared of what they don’t know.

What Food Can You Smoke in a Tube Smoker

Other foods you can smoke with a pellet tube smoker are vegetables, mushrooms, salt, spices, salami, whole muscle cured meat, and even some dairy products like cream, milk, etc.

The possibilities are endless, most of the time you just see people smoking cheese, and other people just copy the cheese smokers but you can do so much more with this simple but effective tool.

Maza Smokers are Similar

The other option is the maze smoker which works on a very similar principle. The way you get this smoking can vary, some use a simple tea candle placed at the start of the maze. Whilst of the ones you will need a Brulé torch/butane torch.

If you want a quick recommendation on a maze smoker, it’s on the same page as the recommended one here.

If your looking for the 'ducks nuts' (that means a very good bit of equipment). A smoke generator can be used as a cold smoker, or adding smoke to indirect cooking which equates to a form of 'low & slow' bbq or making smoked ham and some much more.

The inventor of smoke generators was Smokai, it's a simple device that uses the venturi effect and a variable air pump to control the amount of smoke you are pumping.

I have a range of cold smoking options, and the Smokai is my favorite.

 

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By far the smokai is the most efficient cold smoker I've come across because you have control. 

It also burns very clean, which flavors the food exceptionally well. I've been using smoke generators for over 10 years, and this one is the ducks nuts.

Check out this review I did of the Smokai Smoke Generator here.

I did a video below on tips also to help you with pellet tuber smoking.