After reading his book last month I learned a ton about heat controlling a offset smoker. One little sentence, "I always smoke with the door open" changed everything for me. Now I get the vents set after I have a nice bed of coals and don't have to touch them again. Heat control is established by the firebox door and how far it's opened, very seldom closed all the way, no more bad smoke. His book was kind of a manifesto for guys with offsets, somewhere in there I remember reading he had no use for electric or pellet smokers. I'm not using charcoal in my SQ36 now either, straight wood. I learned a lot and it's a great read, but I think it's just for folks with offset smokers. RAY