burner gasket

First time burner maintenance. Landa system. Removed burner and old gasket from water heater. The kind found on a wayne system (around 10'' diameter). Replaced the two gaskets and torqued down.

Problem - continious blow- by of heat and smoke around gasket

Is this normal, should I buy a sealant, or add as much torque as possible "pretty tight already"?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I see this alot in my line of work. Usually this means your coils are not breathing enough and the smoke has to go somewhere so it naturally goes out the path of least resistance around the gasket. Get an air compressor and blow out your coils where the output fire comes out of the housing. Stand back when you do this because black soot will get every where. Where old clothes and don't breath this stuff into your lungs it is toxic. You will see something amazing Smoke without Fire.
To stop the smoke from comming out of the burner ring, I ust make a ring out of insullation and put it on there instead of the burner ring and it seals up like magic.