Dont lose hope - if people dont answer it is usually because they have not had the experience, rather than they dont want to answer the question.
With regard to smoking cold and hot I can only offer my experience from my Bradley. The Bradley comes in two parts, the cabinet and the burner. When a hot smoke is required the burner is placed inside the cabinet via a small hole (please see
www.bradleysmoker.co.uk a picture speaks a thousand words) and when cold smoke is required the burner plate is placed in a cardboard box a few feet away from the box which needs to be elevated so the smoke can rise without heating the inside of the box so creating a cold smoke.
I dont see any reason why the same principal cannot be used with whatever you are using to create smoke (sorry I have no experience of a soldering iron).
Cheers WW
Cheers WW