I guess the good thing about the mailbox mod is that you don't need to worry about air circulation. If I'm still having a problem keeping the
AMNPS lit during all smokes I think I'll look into doing that mod myself. But I have no desire to start removing or plugging things up. The air circ in a MES 30 Gen 1 isn't great to begin with and you can still get good bark with naked pork ribs. But if you're smoking naked ribs, why still refer to it as 3-1-1 since they're never foiled? It's actually 5, period. Even if I do foil again I've already stopped using foil juice. All it does is help steam the ribs and soften the bark AND wash away the dry rub flavors.
But I'm still not fully understanding why you're plugging up everything. Seems to me that if you're concentrating both the heat and the smoke that might serve to dry out and over smoke the meat.
I buy all my racks of ribs--both b-backs and STL--at Costco. They've contracted with Swift Premium to not add any saline solution and to remove the membrane. One of the first times I smoked ribs I purposely bought a rack of spareribs so I could both trim them STL-style and remove the membrane. I watched a couple of You Tube videos to learn how to trim them properly. So, after doing it successfully once to prove I could do it, haven't felt the need to do it again. Not if Costco hands them to me all ready to go.
I'm also going to do some experimenting with smoking both wrapped and naked brisket next year. I've got a whole packer in the freezer. My plan is to smoke the point naked and to smoke the flat naked until the stall and then wrap it in butcher paper.