Welcome from NE Oklahoma, I travel down your way occasionally, hard to miss with the golf ball water towers.
Not familiar with using your particular smoker, I am sure others will be in here soon with detailed comments. You have found THE site for smoking meats and most everything else.
In general, I would do a dry run. Set it up and light a fire. Burn out any left over oils from the original metal processing, don't need them in your first smoke. Check the dampers to get an idea of how you have to adjust airflow for holding a temp of 225-240 or so, etc.
A man and his machine need to develop a bond ya know, and this site is where you can find the information for you both to be happy.
If you are new to smoking you also need a temp sensor to measure the Internal Temperature of the meat you are smoking. This is the only way to be consistent. Then for your first smoke, pick up something easy like a brisket. Find a rub to put in, then throw it on for 20 hours or so till you get an IT of 200' and then wrap it in foil to put it in a cooler wrapped in towels at least a couple hours to pull out and slice is an easy start..
Upper right corner search function on the main page of this site can most likely give you a lot of help.
Good luck to you and keep us informed of how it is going.
