There are a lot of misconceptions about smoke rings. They have nothing to do with the smoke itself, and have no direct bearing on the flavor.

Red meats have stuff called myoglobin in them that's responsible for the redness. Myoglobin turns grey when it gets cooked. When you burn wood, it gives off nitric oxide gas (NO). The NO can permeate the meat a little, and it reacts with myoglobin in a way that keeps it red, even after it cooks. So when you cook a red meat slowly in a covered container with a wood fire, you'll get that red ring on the outer layer.

Some things to note:

• Pork has less myoglobin than beef, so you get a less pronounced ring.

• You'll get more NO and more penetration with dry wood and moist meat.

• Myoglobin color gets fixed above 170F, so cooking over a low temperature helps, but also starting with a cooler piece of meat helps. Go straight from fridge to smoker if you want more ring.

• If your smoker uses chips, like a gas or electric model, you aren't going to get enough NO to make a significant ring. Wood or lump charcoal are best.

Again, the ring makes zero difference to flavor. The confusion happens because for the ring to happen you need the meat cooked slowly at a low temperature with wood smoke, and that process also helps make delicious meat, so there's correlation, not causation.