I got a Weber smokey mountain 18.5 inch for Christmas form the in-laws. I am pretty excited to use it. All I had before was two little Cheap Barrel smokers, and I do love those little guys. My wife's biggest complaint when I smoked was that I had to go check those little smoker every couple hours to keep them around 225. I hear that the WSM holds heat really well and you can go a long time with out having to mess with it. Is that true? Also I live in Nebraska and it gets pretty cold in the winter. I have never used my little cheap guys i the winter because they don;t hold heat well enough. Will I be able to use the WSM when it is in the teens and twenty outside or should I still wait for spring? Anyway I am pretty excited to use it. Good thing I have a bunch of smoked meat in the freezer since I have a big craving for it now.