Definitely works as recorded. When you first turn it on it produces a ton of smoke. You have to let it run for a few minutes to let it calm down or it may produce too much smoke.Some tips for use:It will produce too much smoke for most applications. Once you turn it on, let it produce smoke for 10 to 15 minutes. At this point the chips at the bottom of the chute are smoldering. After this, you can power down the unit and it will produce smoke at a much better rate. You want nice light blue smoke, not heavy white smoke.ALSO, it will produce heat so you may have to compensate for this in your smoker temp. turning off the slow smoker after it's smoldering will fox this issue as well. By nature the wood chips WILL coat the inside of the chip chute with creosote, quite a lot. So much so that it will eventually cause the wood chips to stick to the inside of the chute. This is an easy fix. Get some creosote spray and coat the inside of the chute. Light a couple of "tumbleweed" fire starters and put the chute over top of them. They will flame up quite a bit, best to put it on a grill grate of sorts so air can get to the tumbleweeds. This will turn the creosote into ash that can easily be brushed off. Takes about 3-5 minutes. In the end, it's a great device and with some ingenuity, you can control the smoke level pretty easy. I use it for cold smoking items that require temps below 150, summer sausage, cheese and such. Also use it for lower temp warm smokes like pork belly for bacon. Also works like a champ for hot smoking.Dealing with reloading the hopper in my electric Masterbuilt every 20-30 mins has been a huge pain. Adding this thing on has really changed the game. I can toss in a bunch of chips and just let it go for a while. I find that even if I cut the element off after the chips start to smoke, it'll still burn through them pretty quick. Still, I'll take reloading every couple of hours to every 20 minutes any time.The only downside is that the way this side smoker attached isn't really that great. It's basically just hanging off the side and only attached by a single hook. So, any time I tilt or move the smoker the box flops around. I'll have to find a better way to rig it. It's just a little disappointing that it doesn't fit well onto a smoker it was designed for.All in all, I'm pretty happy with it especially at the price. But definitely cut the heating element off when it starts smoking or it will burn through everything.This is a really good cold smoker. It gets 4 out of 5 starts because when I went to clean the burnt pellets out of the "tower", a lot of the paint / powdercoat or whatever that lining inside the tower is, came out. I went ahead an washed the entire tower thereafter with warm water and dish soap and let the tower dry and then seasoned it again. It appears the tower is made out of aluminum or similar material. I seasoned the unit the first time (without smoking any food) for about 2 hours. The unit heated up quickly, and I would say within 6-7 minutes I had good smoke rolling. I used 100% hickory pellets available on this website. I have also used hickory chips. I like the pellets better. I think the pellets are more consistent than chips, altho if you have access to some hickory / cherry / maple, you might want to make your own pellets and use them. Do so at your own risk. From all the reviews I've read and my own experience, do not wet your chips. Allegedly (or actually), the wet chips are more difficult to heat up and smolder and once the wet part becomes dry and burns off, the remainder is dry anyway, so I tend to agree with the people who say "don't wet your chips". I have heard it both ways, tho. After my last cheese smoke for 2 hours, I examined the tower, and there's stuff stuck up in there again. So, I would say make sure to clean (and maybe wash and dry?) your tower every time after you use it. In my experience, you should cold smoke when the internal temperature of the smoker (not the cold smoker) is 70 deg F or less. You don't want your cheese melting and dripping while it is being smoked. If the cheese is room temperature, say 70 deg F or less when you put it into the smoker, it should be OK for 2 hours while it is being smoked. Pick the temperature that suits you best. I have even taken cheese right from the fridge (about 33 deg F), sliced it, and then put it right into the cold smoker and smoked it for 2 hours. You'll have to play with how full to fill the chip tower with chips or pellets to get 2 hours of smoke. If you fill the tower clear full, you'll probably get about 6 hours of smoke, and you don't need that much unless you are planning on smoking 3 batches of cheese at 2 hours per batch. Also, be mindful that pellets or chips could get wedged in between the bottom "tic-tac-toe" screen that slides off the tower and the tower. You want the screen properly fitted to the tower. It can be a little tricky sometimes. It goes almost without saying, but the tower will be very hot on the inside when it is running. It will be extremely warm on the outside as well, so I recommend wearing ample hand protection when handling the cold smoker. I have had best results smoking chunks of cheese that are about 1 inch tall by 1 inch wide by 3 inches long. Depending on how you buy your cheese, this can be a pretty easy thing to accomplish. I buy my cheese in bulk when I can, but sometimes the smaller 1/2 pound packages are on sale, and it makes sense to buy them. An 8 oz package come in a small "brick". Cut that brick in 1/2, and then cut the halves in 1/2 again, and you have the right size pieces, in my opinion. Again, do what suits you. You and your family / friends are going to be the ones eating it, so do what works best for you. I have taken a lot larger 2lb cheese packages and had to cut them down several times to get the 1" x 1" x 3" configuration. I see the price dropped about $20 from the original price I paid for this, so if you want to smoke some cheese, it's even more economical to buy this cold smoker now. I have not smoked any fish, but I want to smoke some salmon steaks / filets as well. I'm betting the salmon will be delicious. Make sure when you try to line this cold smoker up with your main smoker that you put both units on a very level surface and adjust the legs. I had to let my legs out quite a ways on the cold smoker. This unit is rated for 1.5A@120VAC. So, aside from the paint coming off the inside of the tower and needing to clean the tower every time after using, everything else about this unit is pretty positive. If you want to smoke some cheese and have a Masterbuilt smoker that will accept this cold smoker, you should definitely get one. I am overall very happy with mine.The best thing about this smoker is the fact that it adapts to alot of different smokers with alittle enginuity.Lasts about 5-6 hrs on chips or pellets.I found this unit very easy to set up and install in my 30in Masterbuilt. I do have it propped up so it isnt just hanging off the side of my smoker, but other than that, the installation is fine.Usage is very easy, I fill the chip silo completely and shake a bit so they settle well, turn the main unit and this unit on, once smoke comes out, I turn this unit off.That is very important. Once you see smoke, you turn this unit off and let the chips smolder on their own.Then when the main unit gets up to temperature, and the smoke has gone from white and thick to thinner and blueish, add the food. It will keep the smoke going for 6+ hours.This unit is a dream come true. No longer do I have to sit by my smoker and add chips every half hour. This unit allows for several hours of consisted smoke without adding to the smoker's heat. We've had great results and would recommend.It does smoke all right but there was 0 instructions on how to use this. A few bullet items on how to preseason it but it says to set its temperature to some degree but this thing only has an ON and OFF button... I have no idea how full i should fill this. A little or a lot of wood chips? Had to you tube it to know how much to put. And the most ridiculous thing is the engineering masterpiece of a "hook" with a wingnut to secure it to the main smoker. It's barely holding on and keeps wobbling away. The piece of metal inside that is suppose to hold you hook is half welded. It's holding by a thread. Anyways... no other alternatives for cold smoking with a Masterbuilt besides DIY setups. Good luck.I have had one of these units since last year, Absolutely love it! It does take a bit of work to get it connected as it isn't the easiest to level due to design. Biggest recommendation is DO NOT USE PELLETS!!!!! I had a few people recommend switching to pellets from wood chips which in the manual is not recommended. I gave it a shot and ended up that they got stuck in the chimney and got so hot that they melted all the wiring and it no longer turns on. I have had to replace the unit. It was a sad day :(I bought this smoke generator to use with my 2 Bbqs and my Master built propane smoker. It produces a really good amount of smoke and constantly. I plumbed it in with 3" aluminum flex duct and 3" round aluminum eavestrough cutouts which I made quick disconnect pins to attack to each unit. The 3" cutouts are mounted on each bbq and my smoker. I also added a small 5V axial fan which is mounted in the flex duct to draw and push the smoke into the bbqs and smoker. Sorry I didn't take pictures but will and add them shortly.Works well but only 3 stars because the paint peels of in the smoker and until it's all melted off it stinks and looks awful. Dont need it to be painted but spending a few more bucks for good heat resistant paint would have been a nice touch. As well the hopper does not feed the wood chips well, always have to shake or poke the chips down.Not really sure on how to rate this product properly. Using it with the bbq it does a mighty fine job but, the paint peel and bleed was a real pain in the ass to clean up. The inside cavity and inside top should have never been painted by manufacturer. You need to burn off the inside paint with a flame and make sure to peel it off. Or you will see for yourself!I am happy with this smoker anyways.