Cover and nuke it.
Folks if you plan for that plateau, you'll make dinner everytime.
I can only speak from the standpoint of a stick burner so humor me.
Get up early to start your fire. I don't care, 4 a.m. if need be. If you get the fire going too early, big deal. Plan for it and have extra wood on hand. Take that butt or brisket out when you go to start the fire. If it hits the grates at room temp, it'll hit the plateau faster. Trust me. Once it gets through that range, it's like a speeding freight train to 190º or 205º. If the smoker just won't hold the temp or it gets late, throw it in a pre-heated oven @ 250º. Yeah, it's cheating, but if you foiled it doesn't matter anyway, because all you are doing in the smoker is cooking, just like the oven. That smoke ain't gonna penetrate foil.