There’s no reason to add the sawdust until you’ve added the meat. I reiterate that I don’t see much use in wetting the sawdust. I suppose they do last longer, but I don’t know if that’s good if the smoke isn’t really the sort you want. I learned to run a pit from some of the very best, and I was taught to get the “thin, blue smoke” if any visible at all. They called the thicker, white smoke “bad smoke” (and, then, there’s the yellow and brown smoke that they called something that would get censored here).

Just check it out. It might look like there’s no smoking going on when you don’t see much of anything. But waft over the chimney. There’s smoke.

The most recent tip I’ve developed is with regards to the 625/1250W setting. The 625W isn’t really enough to raise the temperature very well unless you’re talking about a small change (around 5 F) and you are in mild or hot weather. However, the 1250W setting tends to lead to larger temperature swings. So, I use the 1250W setting to raise the temperature but switch to the 625W about 5 degrees or so before hitting my target temp and leave it on 625W to hold.

Also, give the cooker time to heat up before loading with your sausage or what-have-you. That’ll also help reduce swings.

I don’t wet the sawdust, by the way. Thick smoke is not necessarily good smoke, but you do what works for you.