Just to be sure that I had the right mix I siphoned all the gas out and poured in new 50:1 mixture of gas and oil.
Next I tried your suggestion and I did not see any difference the blower was still dying once I engaged the control bar after running for few minutes.
So (I suppose this is a newbie mistake) next I moved the choke back 1 click to midway position, all of the sudden there was no smoke and engine started running smoothly.
I don't remember if I ever did that last year (moved the choke back after starting up the engine.). Is this normal operation ?
Thanks for the help.