Sausage has its origins in the salting and preserving of meat for longevity, in the days before refrigeration existed. As with smoking and preserving fish, the ancient procedure of meat salting and preserving is no longer necessary but is used regardless because the taste produced continues to be enjoyed by millions. To smoke sausage, you'll need a meat smoker, available at sportsman's stores such as Cabela's or meat-smoking supply stores such as Bradley Smokers.

Place your sausage links into your smoker, and adjust the temperature to 100 Degrees F. Open the dampers of the smoker completely to give vent to the moisture, until the links have dried.

Soak wood chips of choice in water for 30 minutes, then drain them. Place these soaked wood chips into the chip pan, increase the temperature of your smoker to 160 degrees F, and close the smoker dampers.

Keep the sausage in the smoker for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Stop the smoking after 3 to 3 1/2 hours, but continue heating the sausage until an internal temperature of 152 degrees is obtained. The sausage should have been browned by the process.