processhead no, the reference of “bark” on a piece of meat that people strive to get. I know its kind of confusing when i was talking about cleaning then switch to food finishes. However, some people look for a deep black color on the outer layer of a meat product. Is it not essentially creosote that we are putting on our meat for flavor? The articles are saying if too much or drips from the cabin go on the meat can have an adverse affect in taste and tongue numbing

If you are smoking correctly, the bark on meat should be a layer of caramelized sugars, fat, protein and smoke residue, but never creosote.

If the smoke residue on the meat includes significant amounts of creosote, then I would suspect the smoker is being operated improperly.

So the question is “bark”, when is enough to achieve what you want. I feel that you dont need to strive for a heavy black “bark” to get a smokey taste, infact i think its too much. I will keep on my search, i really want to find out the scientific evidence supporting clean and maintaining vs leaving the build up. I will also add, creosote is very flammable at a certain point.

When you say bark, are you still talking about the build up on the interior of the smoker?

That reason being, its a dirty job and I am lazy.

On the rare occasion when I do clean my smokers, it is to avoid a potential grease fire or when creosote flakes start falling on to the meat.