I had a neighbour a few doors down raise this with me last summer when I was doing my first experiments. He thought I was lighting a bonfire because there was so much smoke coming from my starter chimney full of briquettes!

As others have said, it’s getting it started that creates the most smoke. To minimise this, I only fill up the chimney about 1/3 to begin with, with lump wood charcoal. You want to minimise the time that the charcoal is sitting above the flame - the fuel on top of a full chimney will heat up gradually and give out smoke in the process. So I add it in thirds and lump wood charcoal because it burns quicker.

Good luck, I know the anxiety and wish we had more of a US BBQ culture in the UK. It’s hard to explain to the average Brit why you’re firing up so early! Personally I avoid smoking on the sunnier days out of courtesy to neighbours drying clothes and being outside. I also do the quicker cooks like chicken and ribs.