I would have to watch the smoker to put the meat in when the smoke is going well. I am lazy, just want to put it in, set the temp and wait for meat to get done. I still get plenty of smoke flavor that way.
Some users on another forum like to do a ramp up. They start at a low enough temp to get smoke, hold that for 30-60 min and then go to desired set temp. The thinking is that the wood doesn't combust and give you a belch.
I kind of do that with jerky, start at 120 and after an hour go to 180 for 30 min to get meat to 160 internal temp to make it food safe and then I put fan on for the drying process.