What I love about smoking is the variety of methods you can use to achieve virtually the same end result. The meat you smoke determines temps too, like poultry, which just comes out with crispier skin at higher temps.
To me, a smoker is just a smoky oven. I can set my kitchen oven as low as 150F or as high as 550F. My smokers I can set between 200F and I don't know how high, but I've yet to go over 365F, and that was just last weekend when I absentmindly left the lid off the smoker while I was wrapping two pork butts. I closed it down and brought it back into the 310-315F range to finish.
I like to smoke at 225-275F when I'm laying down smoke on bare meat. Once I wrap though, I'm up in the 275-350 range because it is no different than putting it in the oven.
One thing I've learned on this forum and from decades of kitchen cooking is that there is no "right" way to smoke, cook, bake, roast, or grill a meat. What matters is what works for each person and their tastes, techniques they can duplicate given their equipment and style. In the end, the ooohs and ahhs after forks disappear into the mouth and come out clean are all that really matters.
Happy smokin' all.
Dino bones are on my menu this weekend, three full racks.
