smoking ham shank

[old golfer guy]

Need some more help for the vets. I wanted to do cure and smoke a whole leg for Thanksgiving but the meat dept at my store has not been able to get them from there supplier so I bought a fresh shank portion instead. I'm pretty sure of the way to cure it from all the info found on this site----thanks to all of you. My question is when I smoke it what will happen to the large end? The leg is cut in half leaving the large end of exposed meat. Will a portion of this have to be thrown away because it will be so burnt and smoky or is there a way to protect it during the smoke?
Thanks

 

[tallbm]

You could always wrap it in some bacon or some foil to help out.
I would think that using a water pan may help to keep moisture going in the smoker.