First Smoker

I got a free smoker from my neighbor so I'm going to try it out today. It's got a Bass Pro shop label but appears to be an ECB from what I can tell. I've smoked a few butts on my gas grill and borrow an ECB once before so it's not my first smoke but I'm definitely a novice. I'm in the Minneapolis metro area so I figure my season will be short but if today's butt is successful I'll make a lot of use of this free smoker till winter hits. No mods yet but i'll probably start working on those soon. Thanks for all the informational posts!