I love smoking cabooses. So do most of the "non-train" folks who see them on the layout. Unfortunately, MTH & Lionel have eliminated the smoke feature on many recent cabooses, possibly as a cost-cutting feature. The prices have not dropped though.
I have one of the newer Lionel smoking cabooses. Yes, it does not produce much smoke, but it is working as designed. So far I have not had any problems. I really enjoy running it at night when the lights reflect off of the wisps of smoke.
I have an older k line caboose that smokes a ton. It smokes so much the car fills up with smoke. Smokes a lot better then the engines
The older K-Line models are the ones that are really prone to melting the side of the caboose. I'd suggest you protect the shell next to the smoke unit. If you run command, you're probably living on borrowed time if this is before the command/conventional switch.
My personal favorite is an older (1990s) NYC 'Pacemaker' Grey & Red Lionel model that had the cam-driven puffer with a 'T' stack. The smoke would visibly puff out sideways from both sides of the 'T' as she moved along. As it got older, the cam bumping got louder. A real crowd pleaser however!
Sounds like you need a caboose with a Super-Chuffer! 
I like running steam engines with smoke, but I do not run my K-Line cabooses with the smoke on because I am afraid of damaging the plastic. However, I really enjoy Lionel's smoking hot box car, it's a great effect.
With 3 steam trains running, that's all the smoke my lungs can handle.
Gentlemen,
I have to agree with Andy on this one, never had much use for a smoking caboose, they never looked quite like they should, now if Guns comes up with a super chuffer caboose that can be controlled by DCS, that might be a different matter all together.
PCRR/Dave
DCS is not in the cards, MTH offers no receiver packages that are reasonable, just the standard upgrade boards. TMCC, on the other hand, you can do this with a number of different options at very low cost.
I figure the little fan driven smoke unit and the ERR TMCC accessory board would be a good fit for this task. With the accessory board, you can "tune" the power to the smoke unit for the effect you desire.
