manifold vaccum for vaccum advance ?'s

ok, so i bought a brand new mopar distributer from don at fbo systems, and he insited the vaccum advance has to run off of manifold vaccum, when i mentioned running ported vaccum he about tore me a new (you know what)
So i dropped the distributer in set the initial timing at 16 degrees wich made the total land at 34 degrees, this is in a 300hp crate 360 magnum motor. And i hooked the vaccum advance up to manifold vaccum and while my engine was at an idle i could hear popping out the exhaust.
So i called don and he told me to richen up the idle air mixture screws on my carburetor and he asked what kind of carburetor i had, i told him i have the 600cfm manual choke edelbrock performer and he told me that they are total garbage of a carburetor and that i need to get rid of it. Anyways i richened up the idle air mixture screws and nothing it still popped out the exhuast...
So i turned my initial timing down from 16 degrees to 14 degrees wich made my total go from 34 degrees to 32 degrees, no big deal still runs as good as it was at 16 initial and 34 total, but that still didnt help the popping out the exhaust, so i started turning the vaccum can down and i thought all was good at 14 degrees initial plus another 10 degrees from the vaccum advance putting the initial timing at 24 at an idle because i didnt hear any pooping for a long time.
But today i heard it popping again.... So i turned my vaccum can down another full turn and it is now adding 8 degrees of timing at an idle wich makes it sit at 22 degrees at an idle and i still heard popping :banghead:
So i decided to call don at fbo systems and ask him what the hell is going on here and his response was that the problem is with my carburetor and nothing else, he said i need to throw this edelbrock in the trash and get a quickfuel ss series carburetor with a 4 corner idle circuit and adjustable air bleeds and this issue would go away and i could run 16 degrees initial and tune the vaccum advance to add 14 degrees of timing at idle and he says this is where my engine should be doing its best at 16 initial 34 total and 14 degrees from the vaccum can.
But i cant even get away with 8 degrees from the vaccum can at an idle without it popping thru the exhaust. And i think there has to be a way to fix whatever is going on without just having to throw away a brand new carburetor and buy a 500 dollar carburetor. I realize there isnt much adjustability on the idle circuit of the edelbrock carburetor, don says this popping is because of the engine wanting more fuel at an idle, and it makes no sense to me that its running lean at an idle because i can smell the fuel thru the exhaust pretty good... enough to burn my eyes. So whats going on here? If i can smell rich fuel in the exhaust why is it asking for more at an idle?
I'm thinking this might be a different problem other then it wanting more fuel at an idle. Have any of you guys had this same issue when trying to run the vaccum advance off of manifold vaccum? If so how did you fix the popping issue? And please give me some suggestions as to what i need to do to get rid of this popping other then running ported...