I just got this smoker, still in the box and replacing one similar, got it as a Christmas gift. But quite honestly charcoal alone does not get hot enough to bring the temp up by itself from the fire box. You need to add wood in that fire box and control the heat by air flow. Here in Michigan Apple wood is popular, but most hard woods like oak, or maple, in Texas misquite or Hickory would also produce a good smoke flavor and adequate heat temp. The trick to a tender meat, smoke your meat for an hour or two and then pull the meat, wrap it in tin foil and continue to cook until tender and juicy. The rest of the art of smoking and taste is learned by experimenting with marinades, smoke time and patience(cold beer) I also will place tin pans in the bottom of the cooking chamber and fill with water to add moisture and catch grease. Figure a couple hours of smoke time at 225 and depending on size of what you are cooking, 2 or more hours in the foil. Nothing smells better than the smell of applewood coming off from that smoker. Maintain temp...
Looking at the this in the box I am some what nervous about the size of the fire box. If you want a great charcoal smoked flavor, my favorite grill is the small weber grill. Chicken thighs.. Awesome, but smoking. Brisket has to be done using wood.