HOW YA'LL ARE!!!!

I just got a Brinkman smoke and grill; it was on sale at wally world
so what the fug, why not. I've never smoked anything before, always
been a gas grill guy so I'll try something new.

after 7 hours of not knowing if I was going to screw up a 7 lb pork
butt and a 6 lb roasting hen, TAA-DAA!!!!! I am a hero to my family.
Who woulda thunk it?

One thing that did come up is that things turned out really smoky
flavored. I used a kingsford mesquite charcoal. Next time I think
I'll use plain regular charcoal to sort of set up a base for future
evaluation. Maybe I shoulda done that first? Anyway it turned out all
good.

I brined the butt and hen overnight then dried them off and did a dry
rub on the butt and left the chiken naked, then let the smoker run.

What I'd like to know is whats the difference between commercial
briquets and this lump charcoal i hear about.

Another thing is that a guy i work with has access to a hickory
orchard (it's in his family} and he recomends using basic cheapo
charcoal from wally world and using the hulls from the hickory nuts
because they have a higher resin content than the hickory wood chips
and therefore give more flavor with less material.

Then there is that water pan deal in the base. Any advice on what
works well; and more important, what not to use? I used plain water-
had to refill about 2/3 thru the process.

A guy i work with says i can use the smoker to make jerky. The
directions and recipies that came in the box did not address this.
Whattcha thank?

Thanks in advance for any advice, recipies, and voices of experiance.

Mark in alabama