Are smokeless wood-burning fire pits actually smokeless?

No — every high-trust source we read, including specialist subreddit threads on r/SoloStove and r/Breeo and testing notes from outdoorgearlab and amazingribs, agrees the secondary-combustion design reduces smoke significantly once the fire is hot, but it is not literally smokeless. Cold starts, damp wood, and the moments after adding logs all still produce visible smoke.