I have started another smoker build for another customer. This started with a 1/4" x 24" diameter by 60" long piece of cold rolled pipe. I cut 24" off for the fire pit and welded it offset to the cook pit. Then started my new idea hoping to be able to control temperature and burn rate better. What I did was I raised the 14x7 intake from the fire pit to the cook pit to start about 1" below the rack and extend over the top of the rack with a deflector welded in place to deflect the heat up. Then I cut the exhaust opening 5x5 out about a 1/2" below the rack extending towards the bottom. I really hope this works to make it possible to hold 200 degrees for at least 6 hours with out ever touching the grill during this time and allows for even temp in the pit and no fluctuation of temp more than 5 degrees. I'll be posting the results when I finish. So any ideas or comments are welcomed.