Not sure I like the flavor

I have to agree that the CS,dripping moisture onto a firebox,will not be able to approximate the taste of a propane cooker and the steam produced by a water cooker.

I suppose a crockpot with liquid smoke might get you closer?

Hmm...well not sure I want to cook that way. Don't think I even own any liquid smoke (although I guess its good for sauces). I think it might be the difference between pure wood smoke and wood smoke mixed with the vaporized juices. The water smoker captures all the drippings in the water, my wood smoker has a separate firebox so the juices just drip in the bottom of the smoking chamber. Thats why I assume that the difference in taste is the vaporized juices that are crusted on the firebox foil lining at the end of a smoke.

Many people will get on here and tell you of thier results and how much they love it.

And I don't think you have to look far to see the results from competition teams. The FEC100's also have the juices dripping on to the heat shield. And I love the results.

Tom I really think you have a unique aproach to the problem??

John, I think you're on the right track with the drip pan idea.

What I do is simply place a piece of foil on the bottom rack(when I'm not using it) that's wide enough to shield the smoke box and cock the rack up on one side so the juices run off the side and onto the bottom of the smoker.

Sort of off topic but still related.
Today I did a turkey breast in the smokette. I put an 8X8 inch pan on the bottom rack to catch the drippings for gravy.
The gravy came out great(in my opinion) It finished real dark and tasted not at all like poultry gravy. Instead it reminded me of dark ham gravy, smoky and kinda salty. I thought it was delicious. My wife didn't think much of it though.
That's okay because she never has had good taste anyway.. The next beef shoulder I get I'm going to try to cook it more like pot roast and save the drippings the same way. I'll bet that will come out awesome.

Hmmm.... sounds like I need to do some beef like that and try a smokey version of Yorkshire pudding.

Don't know why I haven't at least tried that before.

Well, the "juice dripping on the fire" method of Q is what many people is the only definition of true BBQ (just go to North Carolina and ask). Not that I agree, but there are a lot of people out there that like the idea, so juice drippin's aren't a bad thing.

Since you've gone through 5 smokes and still use propane (why???) you're obviously still searching.

It's not the juice dripping, that's not going to have enough of an effect to really tell, mainly because you can't put that much food in there in a smokette (is that what you own?). You'll get some effect, but not enough to matter (my opinion).

The key would be to pick a cut of meat that hasn't been working, tell us the process and then you get specific about what you like, don't like.

If it's the flavors, then it's your rub, technique more than the method

If it's the texture, then there other areas.

More specifics and we can help

Yes my intention has always been to do an experiment and report. What with blizzards and power-killing ice storms the Q opportunities are not as frequent up in the NE.

To comment on some of the current replies. First the "juices vaporizing" seem to be quite different on coals/charcoal/fire. I suspect its because they vaporize almost instantly on a hot grill or fire and that has a different flavor than with the cookshack where it sits on the hood of the smokebox and bakes until its kind of a black crust (which is why you have to foil it). To answer the question about propane. I don't actually use it anymore mostly because its a pain in the butt to have to reload the wood chips every hour or two. I probably should give it away. I only use the wood smoker about once a year but it is kind of fun.

JohnE, we are glad to have you on the forum. Keep asking until you get it the way you want it. Cookshack customer service is another resource for you.

And, thank you for your business!