Items that are smoked and softly put in pastries (5)
I believe the answer is:
pipes
'items that are smoked' is the definition.
I know that 'smoked' relates to this answer.
'softly put in pastries' is the wordplay.
'softly' becomes 'p' (short for piano, musical term for softly).
'put in' indicates putting letters inside.
'pastries' becomes 'pies' (pie is a kind of pastry).
'p' put into 'pies' is 'PIPES'.
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pipes that I've seen before include "Tubes - musical instrument" , "Transmits" , "Hollow tubes" , "Tubes for fluids" , "they sound shrill at 8 [HIGHLAND GAMES]" .)