I smoke a lot of cheese. If you don’t have a vac sealer don’t do it. I seal them and place in the fridge for 2 months. The longer you can wait the better. If you don’t vac seal them every thing in the fridge will get the smoke. Not really the best thing.

What are you doing with the toothpicks?

I also buy nearly all of my cheese to smoke at Aldi. Best deal I can find and a good variety. My favorite woods to use are pecan, or cherry. I mostly use pecan.