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First off, welcome.  Looks like a nice smoker you have built.  It should do a good job. 

I noticed a few questions you have asked. 

charcoal or wood. 

You can use just wood or just charcoal or both.  I had a smoker like yours and I would use charcoal and then add a chunk of wood or two every couple of hours. This is the fun part of smoking meat.  Trial and error.  Some things will be good and some will not.  I made sure to document everything I did until I found the technique I liked most.  Also, the people that eat your product will let you know if it is good or not.

You mentioned you didn't have a thermometer on the smoker.  I used an old oven thermometer and just placed it on the rack and when you open the door to check the meat make sure your not running to hot or too cold.  I also hold my hand on the cooker door.  If you can't put your hand on there then it is too hot.  This may sound like a lot of stuff but after a few cooks you will see what I mean. 

All the advice that has been given so far from everyone is good to follow.  And you said you were into distilling.  If you can do that then smoking meat will be a easy. 

Good luck and make sure to post some picts (Qview) of you cooking. 

We all love to see the Qview.
 
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thanks you guys,

the thermometer is needed, yes i find the inside one difficult to read , cause it become smoky.and i wonder how am i going to look after my smoker during the night, cause i will sleep.
 
I bought a Boston shoulder, cut in 2 thought i will do one, decided on doing both, took this photo after 12 hours , hard wood makes my temperature going  up and down, now it time to sleep, and will probably take a dip in temp.

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This morning I placed it in foil , put it in my electrical smoker at 250 F, after 1 hour removed waited half an hour , pulled the bones out ,so soft and nice I ate too much, got rid of the tough skin, dogs enjoyed it. so now it is in the fridge, will cut it up later, i made a sause of the drips and am very pleased with my first attempt.
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The butt that i smoked, looks different than other peoples one's , mine had some top ribs and shoulder bone, i went to a butcher here , showed him the picture of the Boston butt and he cut it straight out , so now i'm confused , do you guys buy it deboned? mine had a skin on too, should have removed it, the lucky dogs got it, i wish i could have it , but it's tough.

next time i will try spare ribs, We are still eating the big butt, everyone enjoys it. i used local wood, no apple or hickery wood here, the local wood is hard and is normally used for barbecues ,  and it smoked  a lot when i introduced a new piece

i want to try some sausage , reading about it makes me want to add nitig... (?).. (can't remember what it's called), where am i going to find that?, and i would also like to try making jams (mango jel ) -  still looking for pektin.
 
 The word that i was looking for was sodium nitrite, so i went to the butcher asked him for some, he told me that he mixes two sodium's  quite similar named to sodium  nitrite, hes suggested that i use this mixture mixed with salt ,onto the chicken that i bought , and that it will provide a nice brown color, i wanted to use it in a sausage mix, and will keep some for that.

the wood we use here is saligna.

so i had a accident also today, pored petrol on the wood to start the fire. it somehow spilled and when it lite , it gave woof towards me burned me slightly , this happened so fast , cant believe got me on the cheek.

so the chicken is in on a coke can , will peep at it after 2 hours .
 
Sorry about the accident, but you found reason #2 for NOT using gas to start a fire that you are going to cook on.  #1 is it probably will give the food an off taste.  I know you are probably putting food in the smoker after the wood has gotten going but the fumes are still getting on the smoker walls and such.  Use something else, anything else, but petrol.
 
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thanks Geerock, Today i am better thanks to good medicine , well i did the chicken , bit to fast, the skin was dark ,but inside was good, the breasts were bit dry so today i got hold of Indian spices cut the remainder meat in small pieces, put the in a pan with spices plus the jelly of the drip pan , it came out nice with a smoky flavor
 
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