I have a weber SMC 18" absolutely love it (used it for 10+ years). so much good advice above. Specific to the weber:
1. after you use a while, the grease/soot whatever will seal things more and more as you use it. i never clean mine. i do burn off things if i let it sit for a long time without using.
2. the barrel is thin metal and bends easy. mine fell over once and was out of round. i didn't even notice until smoke was rolling and it was leaking all around the lid. with a little time and effort, i was able to squeeze it back into round and it is almost as good as ever.
3. open the top vent and use the bottom vents to control temp. as said above, fire it up an hour or so before you are ready to let the smoke go from thick/white/grey to thin blue smoke before putting meat on. it makes a difference to me.
4. i have never used the water bowl since early on. i couldn't tell a difference and its a pain to clean. i'm not debating if it makes a difference. i'm just saying for me, it didn't make a noticeable difference and I'm lazy....
5. as others said, i'd start with the butt. smoked chicken meat is not hard, but the skin gets rubbery and is an art to get it right.
6. my SMC can hold temp (i generally run 275, but do ribs down around 220) for hours once i have it up and running. i may tweak the vents twice in a 6-8 hour smoke for brisket, as an example.
7. get ahead of the temp. in other words, when it starts moving up, shut down the vents sooner rather than later or it will overshoot. it is easier to allow temp to go up and to get it to go down.
8. i put 4-6 chunks of wood on the bottom. then i pour in the charcoal to fill the ring. i then take out about 15-20 brickets from the center of the pile to make a depression in the middle. i start them off line. once they are going, i pour them into the middle of the depression and close it up. this allows the temp to ramp up controllably and seems to produce the best smoke for me and the SMC.
9. i use to use probes for temp of the smoker and the meat as you described. i think it is a good tool to learn with. that being so, i replaced the top thermometer with a better unit to make sure the temp was accurate. i've stopped using the thermometers, except an instant probe as i've done it enough that with the top temp, i'm good to go. as someone said, especially with brisket, its cooked to feel, not temp. with lots of notes, you'll learn as you go. outside temps, heavy winds, etc all impact how it cooks.
for reference, my butt is fine, people pay me to do brisket and after 10 years, i finally have ribs that i like. i cook my chicken on the weber kettle.
over the years, i added a hunsaker vortex and rib hanger to my setup. both seem to be good products.
just a few things i learned over the years. enjoy the journey! my family is glad i did!!
