Very good advise about letting a
WSM run stable for a while before adding meat.
There is nothing wrong with using no water in the pan, but just be aware of the advantages water bring to the table (especially for newer
WSM owners). Water does 2 things. It hold heat like a heat sink (it is a mass in it's own right), but it also has physical properties that make it the perfect companion for smoking in that 215-235* range. Water, by it's chemical nature wants to remain a liquid. And to go from a liquid at 212* to a vapor at 212* takes a huge jump in the energy required to make the phase change. Without the extra energy required to keep it a vapor above 212*, it naturally wants to fall back to a liquid and that reverse phase change from a vapor to a liquid sucks a lot of energy back out of the air column. So water wants to live on the knife edge of that 212* liquid to vapor in a smoker. In addition to just being a thermal mass, this liquid/vapor property also tends to further moderate temps in that magic smoking low and slow range.
Yes, a lot of us smoke in a
WSM without water. Some use a dry pan, others put sand in the pan (thermal mass) and cover it with foil, and others go the clay flower pot base sitting in the empty water pan route (I go this path). Just be aware that you will gain the advantages of a thermal mass with those (all but the dry pan), but with the non-water mass, if you overshoot your set temp, you are dependent entirely on fire control to bring the temps back down as a hot dry thermal mass like sand or clay pot base will tend to keep the pit at the hot temp. It's especially important to be patient with vent adjustments with no wet mass or else you end up chasing that yo-yo temp (choke back fire too much, open vent & stoke it up too much, repeat over an over.....). That is why it is easier to learn a
WSM using water in the pan and once you have a good grasp of controlling temps via the lower vents, then try using a dry thermal mass.
Just something to be aware of.....
And like Jimmy J said, it's you dinner so smoke it like you want. Nothing wrong at all with applying X amount of smoke and foiling to either finish foiled in the WSM or the oven in the house. Once it's foiled, you are just dealing with heat so if you want to crank the temps up for quicker finish, go for it.