Double Smoked Ham with Maple-Mustard Glaze

A smoked ham is already good, but when you smoke it again, it gets even better. Double-smoking adds layers of deeper smoke flavor, crispier edges, and a sticky glaze that caramelizes beautifully on the surface.

This isn’t just a heat-and-eat centerpiece—it’s a way to make a store-bought ham taste like something truly made-from-scratch.

What kind of ham should you use?

When you’re double-smoking a ham, you’re starting with one that’s already been cured and fully cooked. Look for a label that says “precooked,” “fully cooked,” “smoked,” or “ready to eat.”

They’re safe to eat as-is, but benefit hugely from extra time on the smoker.

A half leg ham with the hock still attached is my go-to. It has that classic presentation with the curved bone and fat cap intact, perfect for scoring. Plus, the bone helps retain moisture during the cook and adds flavor if you’re saving leftovers for soup or stock.

You can also go for a spiral-cut ham, which helps get more flavor into the ham and is easier to slice. We have a Smoked Spiral Ham recipe you can check out.

Items that will help you cook these are:

• A smoker (I’m using a 22” Weber Smokey Mountain)
• Lump charcoal 
• Various spices
• Wire rack and tray
• An instant-read thermometer (I’m using a Thermapen ONE)
• An internal temp and ambient temp probe thermometer (I’m using the Thermoworks Smoke X4)
• Boning or trimming knife
• Basting brush

The maple-mustard glaze

The key to a great ham glaze is sugar and lots of it. It comes in all manner of types, like dry sugars, syrups, and liquids like honey and maple syrup, and most times, a combination of all three.

From there, you can add whatever ingredients you want to flavor your glaze to your liking. This one is aimed at the holiday season with hints of cinnamon and allspice that always make me feel like it’s the holidays when I smell or taste them.

With the high sugar content, whether it be in dry or liquid form, this is the very reason I recommend not glazing at the start of your cook. Not only will the glaze not penetrate your ham, it has more chance of burning if left for three hours in a smoker.

The point of a glaze is to caramelize and give another flavor profile, burnt is not a flavor profile, it is called ruined.

Twice smoked ham step-by-step instructions

1. Remove the skin and score the ham

Most store-bought smoked hams still have the skin on, which you’ll want to remove so the glaze can stick and caramelize properly.

Start by locating the hock (the knobby end of the leg). Using a sharp utility knife or boning knife, slice around the base of the hock, leaving the skin on that section intact—this forms a natural “handle” and gives the ham that classic holiday presentation.

Next, carefully use your fingers (or a knife) to peel back the skin, working slowly to avoid damaging the fat underneath. You want to expose as much of the fat cap as possible without gouging the meat.

Once the skin is removed, you’re ready to score the fat in a shallow criss-cross pattern, about ¾ inch apart. This helps render the fat and gives the glaze more surface area to cling to as it cooks.

Using a sharp knife, make shallow parallel slices in the fat, then turn the leg around and make slices in the opposite direction as the first ones, thus creating a diamond pattern. 

Just remember to only make shallow slices, the fat will shrink during the smoking stage, so if you cut too deep, the diamonds of fat will most likely fall off.

Once you have created the diamond pattern all over, place the ham on a wire rack in a baking tray that has been lined with foil, this is purely to help with cleaning up afterwards, as it does become messy with the glaze.

2. Fire up your smoker to 275°F

To get started, set your smoker to 275°F.  I like to use apple and cherry wood for smoke. Apple because it is a great flavor to pair with ham and cherry, as it actually creates the best color.

When I know my smoker is stable in temp, I place the ham inside on a wire rack in a tray that has been lined with foil, purely to help in the clean up at the end, and also add three cups of hot water in it.

Insert an internal temperature probe and set your alarm to 130°F. This is the temp we will start glazing. The final temp of the ham internally needs to be at 140°F, so this 10 degrees is plenty of time to apply multiple coats of glaze and have it set.

3. Smoke and make the glaze

Squeeze an orange directly over the ham and get it on the smoker.

While the ham is smoking, we can make our glaze up. Wait an hour or so before doing this, as you want to apply the glaze while it is warm to hot to our ham. If you do find it cool to touch when it’s time to apply it, warm it up a little over a low heat first.

This is a pretty easy glaze to make, as already noted, we need sugar for the caramelization to take effect and some added flavors.

So into a saucepan, we’ll place ¾ of a cup of maple syrup (or honey if you wish), ¾ of a cup of brown sugar (make sure it is packed in tight to the measuring cup), 3 tbsp of Dijon mustard (you can substitute for another type of plain mustard if you wish), ¾ tsp of ground cinnamon and ½ tsp of allspice (you could also use nutmeg).

Now we just need to stir this over medium heat for around 15 minutes until the sugars dissolve and it thickens up.

Keep on stirring constantly so the glaze doesn’t burn.

Once it has thickened and all of the sugars have dissolved, it’s ready to use.

4. Start glazing

Once the internal temp reaches 130°F, it is time to start gazing. I recommend using a silicone basting brush, they just tend to hold my liquid and, therefore, make applying rubs and glazes a lot easier. Give the ham a thick coat and put the lid of the smoker back on.

Set the internal temp probes alarm to 140°F now, once it reaches this temp, it will be time to take it off the heat.

Keep reapplying the glaze every 15 to 20 minutes now until it does reach the finished internal temp.

Once it is ready and resting on a chopping board, I like to warm up the glaze again and give it one last thick coating while I allow the ham to rest for 5 minutes before slicing into it.