How do you Smoke on a Gas Grill?

The short answer is, you don’t. Gas grills can do many things well (they’re terrific for direct and indirect grilling and for spit roasting). But because of the large vents in the back (required by the safety code), most gas grills do a poor job of smoking. Virtually all of the smoke goes pouring out the vents before it has a chance to flavor the food. Moreover, unless the grill is operating at full blast, it doesn’t get hot enough to make the wood smolder (this is not a problem on a charcoal grill, where the wood comes in direct contact with the glowing coals). However, if you run a gas grill on high, the temperature will be too hot for indirect grilling or barbecuing.