Pro 780 No smoke

[n_maher]

There's no question that offsets and charcoal burners produce different results and I think it largely comes down to efficiency of combustion. Most folks that I know burn wood chunk on their charcoal rigs which to me is no different than using a smoke tube. The Green egg or whatever folks aren't burning wood to generate heat, it's for flavor and I see no problem with that or my choice to augment the flavor with a smoke when I cook.

And just for anyone who might be curious, I use a bed of pellets with chips on top in the smoke adding device. I find that helps with efficient combustion of the chips. One more note, the picture above makes it looks more smokey than it is. Once the lid is closed, given how much air the Traeger circulates, you still can barely detect the added smoke exiting the cooker.

 

[EverettSmoke]

Good stuff and info. I have the 780 and fell just as disappointed. It's a $1000 oven. I also bought a smoke tube and now it smokes (enough).

I will be making some pizzas this summer in the outdoor oven.

 

[JamesB]

Good stuff and info. I have the 780 and fell just as disappointed. It's a $1000 oven. I also bought a smoke tube and now it smokes (enough).

I will be making some pizzas this summer in the outdoor oven.

At temps above 225, the Traeger burns so efficiently that it produces very little visible smoke. Couple that with the fact that certain pellets are almost worthless and…..My Traeger runs at 225 or below about 90% of the time and I have no trouble at all getting plenty of smoke flavor I want. In fact, my wife complains that it’s to smoky.
I ran a 500 gallon offset stick burner for years and she never complained until I started using the Traeger.
The trick is to smoke at 180 or so for a couple hours, and then bump the temp for a quick finish. If I cook a whole 5lb. Chicken, it’s 2 hours at 180, and then around an hour at 350 until it reaches 160 internal temp. That will give plenty of smoke flavor without a tube.

 

[CMTiger]

I’m new to this but I did learn to cook everything low for a bit if you want the smoke flavor. The last time I did turkey breasts I cooked at like 45 minutes to an hour at 175 before turning it up to finish it off

 

[Slimpicker]

I've looked into this, and would like to give it a go, but according to Traeger, it will void my warranty. Might have to try it though, just to get some flavor. Thanks!

Its only a $20 item on Amazon, choose from hundreds

Of course the charcoal/real wood "flavor" is what you want, But you bought a pellet grill, there is NO PELLET in the world that will reproduce charcoal and real wood flavor...
In fact, I'm not sure why people even EXPECT a "pellet grill" to taste and smoke like charcoal/wood!!! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!! THERE, I SAID IT>

 

[Tim K]

Its only a $20 item on Amazon, choose from hundreds

Of course the charcoal/real wood "flavor" is what you want, But you bought a pellet grill, there is NO PELLET in the world that will reproduce charcoal and real wood flavor...
In fact, I'm not sure why people even EXPECT a "pellet grill" to taste and smoke like charcoal/wood!!! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!! THERE, I SAID IT>

Pure blasphemy!!! How dare you speak the truth when there are so many lies to be told? I'm taking my toys (and outdoor oven) with me and I'm going home.........

Ha ha, I've got a smoke tube and am happy with the results. But, since I am relatively new to the forum, I'm still learning A LOT the more time I spend here.... (Until now), I had never heard of smoking at low temps for an hour or so to help produce a smoky flavor. I'm looking forward to trying this to see the difference.

Tim

 

[mgmcotton]

I've looked into this, and would like to give it a go, but according to Traeger, it will void my warranty. Might have to try it though, just to get some flavor. Thanks!

The trick to the smoking tube is put it in the back corner next to the hopper side. Before you put the tube in, put a piece of aluminum foil under it so the ash that falls through can easily be cleaned.

 

[TF_Member6575]

I purchased a new Pro 780 and I’m very disappointed. No smoke “EVER”!!! The only time any smoke has came out of this grill was during the seasoning. I’ve tried every setting from 160 to 250 and not one puff of smoke. I set out on the patio yesterday for 8 hours doing a smoked rib recipe on the Traeger app. Nothing! Even the app says use the super smoke or smoke setting. Ha! The 780 doesn’t have these settings. I feel like I threw a $1000 dollars in the trash. Funny thing is that the cheaper models around $700 have a smoke setting and the more expensive $1500 to $2000 Models have super smoke but if you spend $1000, nope, you’re out of luck.

Does it have a specific smoker setting? My Pro22 has a Smoke setting on the dial

 

[DJDDay]

Does it have a specific smoker setting? My Pro22 has a Smoke setting on the dial

No, neither Pro-series (575 or 780) have a Super Smoke setting, but it's easy for us to get it - just run in between 165 and 195, and you'll easily get plenty of smoke:

 

[jimboturkey]

I purchased a new Pro 780 and I’m very disappointed. No smoke “EVER”!!! The only time any smoke has came out of this grill was during the seasoning. I’ve tried every setting from 160 to 250 and not one puff of smoke. I set out on the patio yesterday for 8 hours doing a smoked rib recipe on the Traeger app. Nothing! Even the app says use the super smoke or smoke setting. Ha! The 780 doesn’t have these settings. I feel like I threw a $1000 dollars in the trash. Funny thing is that the cheaper models around $700 have a smoke setting and the more expensive $1500 to $2000 Models have super smoke but if you spend $1000, nope, you’re out of luck.

Same thing happened to me!!! I'm sooooo disappointed in myself for buying it and the grill. When I called treager about the no smoke, no searing and other things I was told by support that it is basically a convection oven and not a smoker.....REALLY....certainly not what's advertised!! The only thing its worked well for so far is jerky. ALSO, it uses a lot more pellets than advertised. Hopefully I will find a way to work my way around its inabilities and get some use out of it!

 

[DJDDay]

When I called treager about the no smoke

No smoke you say?

 

[Murphy's Law]

Same thing happened to me!!! I'm sooooo disappointed in myself for buying it and the grill. When I called treager about the no smoke, no searing and other things I was told by support that it is basically a convection oven and not a smoker.....REALLY....certainly not what's advertised!! The only thing its worked well for so far is jerky. ALSO, it uses a lot more pellets than advertised. Hopefully I will find a way to work my way around its inabilities and get some use out of it!

They are marketed as a "wood fired" or "The original pellet grill". They never compare themselves to a "smoker".

 

[DJDDay]

They are marketed as a "wood fired" or "The original pellet grill". They never compare themselves to a "smoker".

That's a tiny bit disingenuous. I mean... to be fair, they do very clearly allude to their grills being able to smoke to some degree:

They mention the word "smoke" 5 times on that page. And the marketing photos for their Pro series literally has a "smoke stack" style exhaust and plenty of white smoke visible:

 

[CMTiger]

That's a tiny bit disingenuous. I mean... to be fair, they do very clearly allude to their grills being able to smoke to some degree:

View attachment 8162

They mention the word "smoke" 5 times on that page. And the marketing photos for their Pro series literally has a "smoke stack" style exhaust and plenty of white smoke visible:

View attachment 8163

well it does smoke

 

[Murphy's Law]

@DJDDay, I'd have to say they do smoke "to some degree", at least mine does; however, I didn't say they wouldn't smoke, I said they don't compare themselves to a "smoker", which they don't. You'll never get the same smoke profile and that seems to be what people are chasing and disappointed when they don't achieve that goal, so they blame Traeger.