if you're adventurous, you can smoke smaller quantities of meat right on your stove top, in a very short time. just understand that this is smoking only for the flavor, not for preserving meat, which requires rather more temperature control and way more time.
what you need are:
- a larger stock pot that you don't mind trashing or at least giving a good scouring or, you could maybe use a metal bucket or even a couple of old woks, 1 for the bottom and 1 for the lid.
- 1 or more wire racks
- something to keep the racks well above the bottom of the pan, for example some cans with both ends removed
- a couple (or more) of handfuls of wood chips, or even something like tea leaves
- a tight fitting lid
you've probably got a good idea already. put the cans or whatever in the bottom of the pan. add some wood chips. place the rack. crank up the heat. when it starts smoking, place in the meat and cover with the lid.
from this point, you kind of have to eyeball it, adjusting the heat enough to keep it smoking, but if possible, not so high that you're actually cooking the meat. you can probably move the whole thing outside once the smoke gets going well, so your house doesn't get too smokey when you check the contents. as long as the lid is on, it won't have enough oxygen to catch fire.
it's been a while, but i used to do this from time to time long ago. finally i built myself a smoker. i never thought that it seemed dangerous, as far as fire goes and i seem to recall that between 1/2 to 1 hour would give a good flavor, but as i said, it's been a while so don't quote me on the time. i'd suggest not doing it too much longer at first because you can actually go too overboard on the smokey taste