Even with them right next to the root cellars they used to only do about 400-450 on average each. I’m now getting 820s.
Maybe all off a sudden the meat they needed was right next to them in the root cellar?
Either way, I have no idea if they got buffed or not.
Education and tools? Maybe you are running an uneducated smoker without tools in first place?
Reassign people to work places sometimes works wonders - going to population tab (shortkey P) and removing all workers from all jobs and than reassign them. They tend to pic a house near as possible to working space (they should do this automatically from time to time) - shortens travel distances
In any case you can check in details tab of your smokers hut how the time is split between the 4 different categories: basic needs, working, travel, idle
and stuff…
How many smokers do you have for that amount of people?