Drip pan inside

If that's true, I'll probably die of cancer from butt drippings vapor! Eww! I'd have to see documentation of this claim. It's my opinion that anything from the meat that drips on the firebox adds to the flavor of the meat.

He is absolutely correct. There is nothing left in this world that if charred, grilled, blackened or eaten in sufficient quantities, doesn�t cause cancer in lab rats. (With apologies to Paul Harvey).

Got this tid-bit from Smoky Hale's site Barbecue'n on the Internet

"Mankind has been cooking over wood coals since we learned how to use fire. If it caused cancer, the species would never have made it.

Meat cooked in smoke or over hot coals may present a couple of hazards, however. Burning wood gasses contain, among other things, benzene and phenols, which are known hazards to health. But meat cooked this way tastes bad so competent cooks use wood coals rather than wood for cooking.

Secondly, fat dripping from meat cooked directly over very hot coals is supposed to produce nitrosamines which are reputed to be hazardous to our health. If, for 40 years, you each day ate 400 lbs of meat cooked in this fashion, you could possibly develop cancer."

What a way to go!!! One hand full of ribs, a pulled pork sandwich in the other and brisket drippin' with sauce hanging out both sides of my mouth!

I have to respectfully disagree with

"anything from the meat that drips on the firebox adds to the flavor of the meat"

We go to great lengths to acquire specific woods to flavor our meat. Burning wood gives our food the taste that we seek. Indirect cooking, by definition, should not place the meat over a high heat source. IMHO, BBQ flavor comes from wood smoke, not from burning fat drippings.

Furthermore, I'm not sure I'd consider "Smoky Hale" to be an impartial medical authority.

JonE.

Here's my 2 cents:

Not trying to argue as a medical expert, but I don't think a VERY HOT surface of 200 to 300 is what they're talking about. If you're worried about carcinogens from BBQ, do what you're doing and capture the grease and that works for you.

I've cooked on a lot of smokers, and see a lot of smokers and almost ALL of them create flavor from grease dripping on something hot. Be it as simple as grill racks getting hot or grill tuning plates.

The aroma of the grease cooking, just like bacon creates an aroma when it cooks, still sticks to the surfaces. That's why Fish when it cooks as no fun, because the aroma sticks to everything.

The flavor is from the meat, from the rub, from the sauce/baste/mop, from the smoke, from the grease cooking, from just about everything you can think of and that's the ART of bbq, trying to get a great blend of flavors.

As for wood, as the TV Mythbusters do, I've personally tested and disproven. MOST people can not distinguish between various woods if they only taste the meat. Try a test sometime. Cook 2 or 3 different woods. Don't let them smell the wood cooking or it ruins the experiment. Let them eat the food and ask them what smoke was used. If you've put a rub or sauce on, it won't work well. If the wood is green versus dry, it will be even different.

I've done this over the years and only about 1 out of 10 to 20 people can really tell the wood. And they tell by Aroma, not taste. Yup, I'm a BBQ Expert, or so I've been told, and I think the average person worries about wood too much, when they can't even taste it. Not saying you're that way. If you can taste it, count yourself as one of the few and that's a good thing. I can also, and I have fun experimenting with different woods to match my taste.

Smokin'

I've read something to the effect than when grilling directly over coals ( or a gas or electric burner ) burnt drippings provide most of the smoke flavor.

From the drippings left on my foil covered smoker box, I would guess the surface temperature doesn't reach the smoke point, much less ignition point, of the drippings. This is probably one reason CS doesn't recommend using just the bare element without the smoke box-the smoke box acts as a heat diffuser and prevents direct contact of drippings with the burner and resultant flare ups.

Note on the drip pan - I found that a large drip pan within the smoker was isolating the top from the thermostat, and the top part of the smoker was 50 degrees less than the thermostat setting. (Basically the idea behind the cold smoke plate?)