Just thinking about it since I needed to dry some pellets to smoke salmon for a lunch today.
Wood smoker pellets benefit big time from drying for gentle smoking. I heat mine in the microwave for three minutes then spread them out on paper towels to let the steam escape. When they cool I do it again.
Especially in things like smoker tubes, pellets with high moisture content cause problems and can force lots of babysitting to keep the pellets lit. Drying them beforehand gets you much more reliable smoke. I dry a fair amount then keep them sealed in Kerr canning jars to have them ready.
It’s really amazing how much water comes off after heating them. It literally wets the counter underneath them and you can see the steam come off above. There’s a lot of water in smoker pellets and too much makes them hard to keep lit.
The first time I heard about microwaving wood pellets I was skeptical but if you use a smoker tube or other soft smoking method it makes a huge difference. If your pellet grill is smoking a lot and going out on low temperature settings, a good dose of “dried” pellets can help there too.
Happy smoking!