I have the Oklahoma Joe I haven't done any mods as of yet. I have only used the smoker a few times the first time I had the fire box damper wide open most of the time and controlled heat by the smoke stack damper. By doing this I had fairly constant heat all the way across the grate , but I did use twice as much charcoal. the second time I did it the opposite way .fire box damper controlling heat and smoke stack damper wide open use half as much coal but temp on grate were way off as much as 60deg from side to side. can anyone explain this or have mods? thanks happy smokin