I'm not talking about the older cooked-out creo "charcoal" that sometimes builds up in a cat stove. You might melt your stove trying to burn all that stuff off (I had that more in the Dutchwest, not much in the Keystone for whatever reason.) The creo I'm talking about which may be burning off in
@Rangerbait's stove is the fresh, gooey stuff that is deposited over the course of the "long, slow burn" he is describing. This is the same stuff that is on your glass when it is black, but burns off in a while with a hot fire...that stuff is on the walls of your firebox as well. That is the stuff that can cause quite a bit of smoke, even after a good while with a hot fire. If he's got the bypass closed at this point, wood smoke would be burning in the cat. But like I said, I don't think the cat can handle all of that dense creo smoke. Now, I'll grant you that some regular wood smoke could probably make it through the cat unburned, if you have the air open quite a bit. To catch all of that wood smoke requires the "residence time" in the cat that BKVP has talked about, which you don't have if you are blowing the smoke through the cat at high speed. Hopefully Ranger can soon get the right conditions again where the smoke is blowing down off the roof, and he can tell us if it smells like wood smoke or creo smoke. And for sure, he can tell us how far he had the air opened up when he got this smoke.
Next load I fire later today, I'll get a load of Red Oak gassing and see just how much I can have the air open before the cat is unable to handle all the wood smoke..