Hey Prairie, welcome to SMF. Lots of info here for you with some mighty friendly help. I'll take a stab at a couple of your questions but be sure to search the Charcoal smoker forum. Most of what you're looking for should be in there.
1. Nope, don't have the Grill Pro, but do have an off-set smoker.
2. Seasoning: A must. Coat your grates and the entire inside of your grill with vegetable oil and run a batch of charcoal to get the heat flowing. Keep it rolling for about 3-5 hours at low temps (225-250 seems to work for me).
3. Wood: Use either chips or chunks. In both cases your in search of the holy TBS (thin blue smoke). You don't want it rolling out of your smoker, only wafting (did I just say wafting?). For chips, take a handful or two and place in an aluminum foil pouch (fold over the foil edges to make the pouch) and place on the hot coals. Should last you 30-45 mins. With chunks, I usually don't put any more than one or two on at a time.
4. Keep the smoke rolling: depending on what you're cooking, smoke will need to roll for most of the time (get the times from the forum)
5. Buy
Jeff's rub. You'll be an immediate rock star.
Hope this helps. Have fun and ask anything you want. Oh, and don't forget the q-view. Take pictures of everything. We want to see it!
