I guess I don't quite understand why you guys are soaking your chips unless you're using a charcoal smoker?
I use gas and put straight dry chips on under my water pan in a small cast iron skillet and have good smoke the whole time. My nephew in law is a carpenter and gave me a big sack of alder planer shaving that he got when doing alder cabinets. I'll put a handfull of it on the bigger chips about half way through when the they've kind of slowed down and get constant smoke for the 2+ hours I smoke.
