We always wet-brined our hams and bellies, and always left the skin on. We would sell it both ways, rind on and rind off, many old timers liked to chew on the rind, same as cooking side pork or salt pork (sidepork is just fresh belly, sliced, salt pork is fresh belly cured but not smoked). The skin does not impede the curing process at all; regardless if its wet or dry cure. But, removing the skin is much, much easier after smoking than before smoking, esp. when done hot. We'd wear rubber gloves and slide the knife under the skin progressively further in until it detached from half the belly, then flip it around and do the other side; skin removed. You could get very close to the belly from the underside as the skin was hard and the fat soft, making it easy to remove. Sometimes on bellies that were close to the smokehouse wall that got overcooked you could just loosen the skin around the edge and pull the skin off with pliers. Of course, always be careful, cutting away from you, not toward you; the meat knife could slip and slice through the skin and your fingers too.
