heres the deal on good BBQ. Good BBQ doesn't start with seasonings, marinade, or rubs. Good BBQ starts with Fire management. Spare ribs are better at 275-300 degrees since they have less fat than country style, Kansas city style. Other ribs I prefer 250 or so. Post oak is pretty popular in the ATX and is a decent wood even though it does not burn as hot as red oak or mesquite. That being said, You need to experiment with how woods burn, season your own wood, there are learning curves to venture down. You are using a small offset. GOOD FOR YOU! electric smokers as a beginner will make you lazy and will prohibit learning the basics of bbq. It sounds ridiculous, but you should probably practice burning a fire in your smoker and seeing how steady you can keep the temp. I wouldn't even stick meat inside that thing until you get halfway decent. It sounds strange, but you will learn more by watching and keeping a fire then focusing on cooking something on your smoker and distracting you from the fire. Also, mesquite is a very strong wood. It burns very hot. Each wood will put out different amounts of BTUs. Experiment with log chunks, split stathes, and wood chips. Eventually you will not need charcoal, you will be able to pick up a piece of wood tell if it is green or seasoned and tell how hot it will burn just by diameter and how heavy it is. (I know people laugh, but when they ask me how I make good BBQ I say "I'm a good fire maker." There are more facets to BBQ than people realize. some people never take into consideration when a log breaks open it gets hotter from unreleased heat due to coals that will spike your temp upward. You should have some wood 12 month seasoned and maybe 6 month seasoned. I like to use multi types of wood and multi types of log lengths, and cut sizes. Sorry I got off on a tangent, BBQ is my life and I get excited when I get free time to discuss it. What did you do wrong? temp was not steady, fire was to dirty, temp was to low, ribs could have not been cooked thoroughly. If you decide to cook something again instead of working with a fire first try this: Burn a nice bed of mesquite coals down in your smoker with the lid up on both lids. (Mesquite coals will still be burning hot when other wood coals will have burnt to ash) Once you have a good bed of coals burning you can add a small amount of wood to your coals this will enable a few things to happen 1. Your fire will burn clean and can attain thin blue smoke. 2. your fire will be easier to control. With ribs you may only need a few loads of mesquite coals and I would suggest burning them into a separate receptacle and shoveling in as needed. Don't be afraid to smoke ribs at 275-300 on your narrow spares, and 250-275 on country style. use a water pan and leave fat on them you will be just fine. Its a lot of work becoming a pit master and it all starts with fire management! You do have a leg up though...your from Texas, and you have some great BBQ restaurants and plentiful wood supply all around you! Good Luck and just remember "A true Pit Master is born from managing a great fire, not sprinkling seasoning and mopping meat"