I made a box out of the 3/4" rigid foam insulation to slip over the smoker when it's cold outside. The box works ok, but I like to store it in the box and the smoke saturated box would smell too much where I have to store it.

If you don't have some sort of insulation, the Little Chief doesn't have the horsepower to maintain a warm enough temperature at the top of the smoker.

I usually use 4 - 5 pan fulls of Alder or 3 - 4 if I decide to use Hickory. Maybe I like a little heavier smoke. I let it stay in the smoker for about 7-8 hours.

Then I transfer the fish to a baking pan and put it in a pre-eated 300 degree oven for 20 minutes. It seems to finish it off nicely, gets the oils flowing and dries it out a little more for an even texture.

The oven shot allows you to cap the time involvement to less than 8 hours and turns out a very respectable product. We like it anyway.