Butt--Need All the Help I can Get

thanks guys. It is definately going to be an adventure. Brand new smoker and a tough piece of meat to smoke properly I definately have my work cut out for me. Any other tips ya'll can share?

thank everyone I really appreciate the help. Like I said I have read quite a bit on here and there seems to be a general consenseses that before you put your rub on you rub the butt down with mustard just to give the rub alittle more to stick too. Well I HATE mustard with a passion and I know it says that the flavor cooks out but I still don't trust it for some reason. I was thinking about rubbing it with a very small amount of honey before hand, do you think that it would work or would it burn with all the sugars in honey?

that was my concern as well. I may have to try it will a smaller piece of meat some time and see how it works, don't want to ruin a really good butt on an experiement right now.

I will try the mustard this time and see how it goes.

well I can honestly say that my first attempt wasn't horrible. It wasn't great and nobody died from the food which is always a good thing.

I got up Saturday morning about 6:30 and go the smoker rolling, butt was on by 7:30 and we were off to the races. I had a few issues with my fire getting out of hand a tad and my heat getting up to the 350-375 range for about 15 min, thank god it was cool out or it could have been a bear getting the temp back down. I finally got things adjusted and really got a good smoke/heat ratio going steady. I had to refill with coals once, I was expecting at least twice but one coal refill and a few pieces of apple and hickory here and there and we were good to go.

By about 11:30 or 12 I had already hit 160 internal and was alittle worried but I brought her in anyways, slathered it with honey and wrapped it up good and tight in foil then back onto the heat. By 2pm I had hit 205 degree so I took it off wrapped it in another layer of foil (only because I was loosing juice out of the first layer) and then wrapped it in a bath towel and put it in the cooler to sit for 2 hours. At 4pm I pulled it out and unwrapped it, and it was a sight to behold, a nice dark bark and a good smokey smell, I couldn't wait to get my first taste. Then it happened, kind of like lighting a bottle rocket...there is the anticipation (the smoking) the pause before explosion (resting) then the grand finale (eating)...and just like that the show is over. That is about how it went, I thought I had everything good, my rub tasted good, the smoke went good, that first piece of meat..not so good, completely and utterly flavorless except for the bits of bark and the 1/4in smoke ring everything else had zero taste even with the finishing sauce.

All is not lost though, I learned alot about my smoker, I learned what works good and what doesn't, I learned that patience really does pay off and I learned that smoking while time consuming is fun. Its a good thing I have two more butts in the freezer, gonna give her another shot this weekend.

On another note though, I had a few of the left over last night for supper and the taste was 100% different and more intense last night than it was Saturday when I had it. Can anyone explain that?

that was what i was thinking too but my roommate said that samething and he was gone all day until it was time to eat of course.

I will get them posted right after the bird gets done pecking them out of the stone slab haha. I would post some but i don't own a digital camera so that is going to be tough.