A few years ago a co-worker got me interested in Smoking. Since he was using charcoal I bought an entry level Smoker and used that for a couple of years. Last year I upgraded to the Weber Charcoal Smoker which works really well. Smoking with charcoal requires more attention and monitoring than electric or gas but it gives me about 4 hours to do other things (like take a nap, have a beer, etc) before it needs more fuel. I've smoked all the basics like Ribs, Pulled Pork, Salmon on a Cedar plank, and Sausage. Even a lowly hot dog takes on a nice flavor after an hour or two. I've done brisket but I'm not a big fan.
One of the many "tricks" I've learned is to remove the membrane from the inside of the ribs before you add the rub. The ribs will fall apart much better when they're done and the smoking seems to be more complete. Then I like to use a Memphis Rub on the pork and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next morning it has a bright orange color going into the Smoker and when it comes out it looks like a Meteorite but man does it taste great. Maybe this weekend......
I have posted before about the pellet smoker grills that are out there and gaining in popularity, they are the bomb !!! I have one made by a company called Rec Tec which I love however there are a few dozen other manufacturers and they all work about the same. Menards now carries a mid sized one for about $500 as well as the cooking pellets. These type of grills offer the best of many worlds, you can smoke to grill on them with a temperature range from 180 to 500 degrees (you can go lower for cold smoking with the purchase of a "smoke tube" from Amazon.com). The best thing with these is you can set it and forget it with out having to baby sit the cooker, fill the hopper with pellets and BAM you're done...
