DM,
Thanks for your fast and informative responses, and others as well. Nice to have a wealth of knowledge to draw from.
The pics are misleading in that it doesn't look as heavy in the pics. Trust me, it is fairly heavy for a while. You can see beautiful TBS in the early ramp up that smells heavenly, almost like incense. Then watch it get grey and heavy, at times even brownish. Very distinct difference. And last night I was getting the dreaded belches. A few small ones. It had to be shut down. Obviously igniting the wood a bit.
Yes, the smoke is acrid and foul smelling at times. And yes, I occasionally can taste traces of it in the food. Chicken seems to be the worst and I have had some that was borderline. The heartier pieces of meat can withstand the 30-60 minutes of bad smoke. In fact the pork butt I did last night actually turned out to be maybe the best thing I have done yet in the #2. Briskets are excellent. Ribs can be less than stellar but mostly excellent.
The main issue, as I see it, with the period of acrid smoke is it gives me no room for error. I have to put just the right amount of wood in it. Too little and it not smokey enough and it can still have a slight hint of that acrid bitter taste. Too much and it is too smokey and acrid as well. If I hit it just right, its fantastic. Though I must confess, I have only had one batch of chicken that was completely inedible. Everything else is enjoyable. I just think it could be more consistent.
I cleaned off the sealant and reapplied. I had noticed that I may have not had the sealant close enough to the edge in spots. The door overlaps the least at the bottom. This may contribute to the problem.
I will wrap in foil from now on and see how things go.