Calculate how much smoking wood chips a cook needs.
Smoking wood is consumed per hour of smoking, and how fast depends on the smoker's airflow: an offset burns wood continuously as its fuel, while an electric box only smoulders a handful of chips. Meat also stops taking on smoke once the surface dries and sets, usually in the first half of a long cook, so smoking only that window uses far less wood without changing the finished flavour.
Chips
cups = smoking hours x cups per hour (by smoker type) x intensity factor
Volume
litres = cups x 0.2366
Smoke adheres to a moist surface. Once the bark sets and dries, very little additional smoke compound is absorbed, so wood added late mostly goes up the chimney.
Soaking mainly delays ignition by boiling the water off first; it does not create more smoke. It can help in an electric smoker where you want a slower smoulder.