Howdy All, I'm from the mid-Michigan area. I'm a lil over 50, married and have a daughter in college. I used to grill on a Weber then I went to gas for far too long. I have an ECB and as we all know they're limited in capabilities. I've wanted a horizontal smoker for awhile. I recently bought another Brinkman, a smoker/grill with the offset firebox. A buddy and I put it together on Friday night. Saturday morning I fired it up to cure it. After it was cured I let it cool down, then fired it up again and did a rack of ribs (about 6 1/2 hours). My wife and daughter said they were better than the local rib shack made. I used lump coal and hickory chunks. I'm glad I found this website and did some reading before I bought the smoker or did the ribs, the info here helped make that first rack a success. I'm looking forward to getting better at my new obsession thru practice and reading. Until next time, peace, Wanbli.