Hey all,
Okay, here’s the play by play of installing the smoke pistol on my La Caja China…make sure you read my review below.
Okay, so that looked pretty easy (and it was.)
Problem is, I can’t get the friggin’ thing to work!
I’ve followed the smoke cartridge instructions exactly, pre-lighting them and waiting of the “glow.” I pulled off the far-end metal “lip” to allow for air draw, as the instructions recommended. Then I installed the cartridge into the pistol, set the fan speed, gave it a little “shake” and after a couple of puffs of smoke…the fire died.
Tried again, with a little more fan…died.
Tried again, with a little less fan…died.
Got desperate (I had a dinner planned that night!) so I removed the cartridge and could see that the pellets were barely scorched. “Okay,” I thought, “I just need to get these babies burning!”
Against all recommendations, I set the cartridge upright on the patio, sprayed the pellets inside with a healthy dose of “go-juice” and lit them. Ahhh…at last a flame.
I let it burn for a couple of minutes until the pellets were really going and it was chugging some smoke. Carefully placed it back into the pistol, set the fan to the recommended setting…and it died.
Anyone use this thing before and know how to keep it from suffocating?
Happy to answer any questions!
Until then, I guess I’m back to brushing on liquid smoke…but I want a smoker…not just a big pressure cooker!
-Perk
PS – Just to clarify, even without a functioning smoke-pistol…this thing cooks some awesome meat! – P
[...] here’s the 4th post in the La Caja China series. Previously, we’ve had a luau, added the smoker-pistol attachment, and cooked up some ribs. Finally we’re going to go whole-hog [...]
Hi there! Sorry to bring up an old post…just was curious if you ever got the smoker working? Pulled your post about it up on Google while trying to decide if I wanted to buy the smoker portion…
Thanks
Actually, I never did get the smoke pistol to work. Even with the end rail removed from the box (per instructions) there doesn’t seem to be enough “draw” to keep the pellets smoldering.
As annoying as it is, I’ve taken to putting my pork ribs and shoulders in my old drum bbq and cold smoking them for an hour or two, then transfering them to the Caja.
Still only takes about half the time that the whole process would in the drum, but no, I would have to recommend against the smoke-pistol.
If anyone out there has gotten it to work, PLEASE feel free to point out what I’m doing wrong!
-Perry
PS – I think if the smoke-pistol had an actual heating element in it, it would probably work.
Don’t give up on the smokepistol. It works great but you are not lighting the cartridge correctly. Look at their web site http://www.smokepistol.com and check out the video on starting the unit.
I do exactly what is on the video and never have a problem getting a cartridge lite and getting plenty of smoke thereafter.
Good luck.
Terry,
Thanks for your post. I’m sure happy to hear that someone was able to make it work.
I’ll watch the video and try again. Maybe I just have a lemon?
-Perry
Perry,
If you have a problem contact the company at http://www.smokepistol.com/contactus.html.
The friend that got me into using the smokepistol had a problem with his and the company replaced it after he had used it for almost a year. Apparenty he had dropped it on the concrete and it damaged the pump.
When you get it working, try doing some cold smoking with the Lacaja china. Just put some food inside and put ice on the top instead of coals. You can smoke cheese, shrimp, sausage and a whole bunch of stuff. (you have to cook the shrimp after smoking)
Terry,
Awesome, thanks so much for the advice, I’ll be contacting them today.
That cold-smoke idea sounds great, I’ll post my efforts soon!
Thanks again,
-Perry
Has anyone used the caja china with the smokepistol to cold smoke sausage or Salmon? I have a ton of cold smoke recipes but my smoker doesn’t hold temp at the 80 degree mark