An indoor smoker includes a cabinet including an exhaust duct, a smoking chamber, a firebox, and a bypass duct extending between the firebox and the exhaust duct. The indoor smoker further includes a system of dampers and check valves to regulate the flow of smoke and air within the indoor smoker. A controller may regulate these features to terminate a smoking process by asphyxiating the combustible material and evacuating the smoking chamber, to pause a process by evacuating the smoking chamber while permitting bleed air into the smoldering chamber, or to continue a normal smoking operation.