I'm just curious, I have been cooking on my WSM for a couple years now
and have received the basic instructions from the virtual bullet site
and many tips from you folks.
90% of the time I use the Virtual Bullet Minion charcoal method with a
few lumps of
wood for smoke and a sand filled water pan. For both large Brisket and
Pork Shoulders I will set my top vent wide open and the bottom 3 to
about a 1/3 openening and walk away for 8 hours.
The next morning or afternoon I will stick a thermometer in the meat and
it is either done or in need of another hour. The meat is moist and
delicious every time.

Have I just been lucky? I have never had a thermometer to tell me what
my cooking temp is and have always had great results. What is the
advantage to making hourly air/fuel adjustments? I know on larger cuts I
add some coals after 8 hours and go 12 to 14 but they come out great
too. I will fire up another chimminey of well lit coals and lift the
entire barrel up and set it down on bricks to throw in new coals. I stir
in the new coals and place the cooking barrel back on the fire. Even
with this short/abrupt change in temperature it always settles back down
and continues to cook.

Are there any other WSM users that cook like this? I think the only
thermometer I would like to have is some kind of digital or remote gizmo
so I don't need to lift the lid.