Using an electric smoker with hickory wood chunks, I smoked baby back ribs. There was a gray color to the ribs with an appearance of wet cement. ??

Thanks for reply. I've had the wood for over a year, so it was green. I am also wondering whether I had some bad wood or the smoker (only my second time using it), may have heated too quickly that it burned the wood chucks rather than let them slowly smoke. In any event, I'm going to replace my old wood chunks with hopefully better wood.

The gray color makes me think it's the wood (i.e. creosote) and I am wondering if you used wood that is green. You want to use seasoned wood.

Also, were the ribs cold when you put them into the smoker? Because cold meat/ribs can cause creosote to condense on the meat.

If neither is the case, I really don't know what happened to cause that gray color and appearance, but it sure sounds like creosote build-up.