Wil Tam

Thanks so much for all the replies!

I know some ppl may not see it as much of a problem, but the smoke irritates my eyes and nose and has no where to go unless I open the window or door and with it being -20 degrees out opening the door till all the smoke clears basically loses all the heat in the house.

I will try pre-heating it with some paper and kindling.  
My only question is normally I try a top down burn and set big logs on the bottom followed by some kindling and paper and so it all catches and burns cleanly. With the pre-heating method, you burn just kindling and paper? Then when it's all orange and embers I'd add the larger logs and restart the fire?

Hey guys, I'm fairly new here but I recently bought an older house that has a cast-iron wood burning stove in one of the rooms.  
I love fireplaces and have had a lot of places with built in in-wall fireplaces however this is my first experience with an add on wood burning stove.

I had it expected and cleaned and it's working in great oder and clear and the flue is good, however when I first put firewood in there and light it a ton of smoke pours out the door as opposed to up the chimney.  Even when I close the door a fair amount of smoke leaks out the air flow vents for about 15 seconds.  
After 15 seconds the smoke all goes up the chimney and no longer smokes the room and its great however those first few seconds of smoke pouring out really smokes up the room and requires us to open the door to help air out the room which also loses a ton of heat from the room.

Is there any suggestions or anything I'm doing wrong?
Is that normal?

Normally in the past when I've lit a fire in my fireplace the smoke always just goes straight up the chimney and doesn't take time for that to happen.

I know here it's only 15 seconds or so but it's a ton of smoke...

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!