SmokerBBQtrackworld

with that username, are you sure you need any education on smoking? 😀

(not an expert) I'm surprised I thought BBQ smokers tended to be indirect (separate chamber to the heat)

AI says they're a (good) thing apparently: Vertical smokers use indirect heat, but their design differs from offset smokers. Vertical smokers place the heat source and cooking chamber within the same enclosure, while offset smokers have a separate firebox and cooking chamber. Both utilize indirect heat for smoking, but vertical smokers generally offer more consistent temperatures and a smaller footprint, while offset smokers can offer more nuanced flavor control and capacity for larger cooks

In a dim and distant past maybe...

Not used one but a mate cooks every Sunday Dinner in one. His tips are (I know because he's constantly trying to get me "in to smoking"...):

• Loads of charcoal, and get good quality stuff not the £5 bags from the supermarket
• Good quality wood chips, have some dry and some soaked in water
• Boil the water for the water bucket first, no point wasting BBQ heat on that
• Get a good smoker thermometer and aim for a consistent 115°C +/- 5°C
• Every 2-3 hours you need to shake out the charcoal pan to get rid of the ash, or it will smother the charcoal, the heat will drop dramatically and the whole deal will be ruined
• Be sparing on the wood chips - the meat will be in there for hours, it will get enough smoke
• Get a good bluetooth meat thermometer and keep an eye on the temps - if things get too hot close the vents slightly and throw in some wet wood chips, they'll cool it down again and give you loads more smoke, too cold then open the vents a bit
• If you're doing big cuts of meat then there's a thing called "the stall". It happens when the juices from the meat start evaporating, normally around 60-65°C, it holds the meat at this temperature and can last for hours. If you're expecting to cook your meat for 5-6 hours and don't plan for the stall then it won't be ready when you think it will be. Easiest thing to do is increase the smoker temp (open vents, add more charcoal) and wait for the internal temp to start rising again.
• Final temp to aim for is roughly 90°C, depending on what you're cooking and personal preference.

I trust him with this stuff because his Sunday dinner smoked brisket is phenomenal.

Temperature are king.

Find out what temperature you want to get in the smoker for the ideal cook time.

Find out what temperature the internal temperature for the thing being cooked is.

I imagine the smoker itself had a thermometer. Get a leave in meat thermometer, mine has 4 probes.

Then just leave ot alone. Don't open it unless refueling or something os needed losing heat to check temperature makes things less fun.

Also don't forget you can smoke sausages. Even fairly plain ones will be epic.

Pastrami also great.

And you can use it to cold smoke aswell so things like cheese and basically anything you can  think of.

Currently having smoked rhubarb with honey and greek yoghurts for breakfast.

You all need to study this handy guide carefully...

View this post on Instagram

countrywoodsmoke both the forum and Facebook taught me a lot back in the day, but it got a bit repetitive. Humans have been smoking things for a lot longer than American BBQ has existed. 

With a vertical sand rather than wood can be useful to help regulate temperature and sealing it so all the smoke doesn't leak out before it gets to the meat. As people above have said, good charcoal dried wood sources and decent wood wool firelighters plus a chimney starter are all helpful and will make it taste a lot better. Ideally most of the actual smoking is done on the first hour or two, going beyond that it could well end up overpowering.