I clean much the same as FB- however I toss the racks and drip bowl and bottom pan into the dishwasher. Laziness- guilty as charged- but it works. The last time I went to use the smoker I opened the door and there was a fair amount of flaking going on. I had cleaned the unit the same as always after the previous smoke. I'm not sure what caused that all of a sudden as I hadn't had that flaking at any other time. I just blew it all out and gave it a quick wipe and all is well. My 2 cents...
Cold Smoke