I'm a newbie too, but just from my experience so far I would say DEFINITELY plan for at least 2 hrs per lb... Although I would call my last pork butt smoke pretty successful, I feel like I'm always getting the butts that take on the high side- more than 2 hours per lb and even then when they reach 196 or so in 1 spot, all the other spots I check w/ my
thermapen are still in the high 180's, low 190's.
For my last one, I really wanted to wait to pull it off until the temp was around 198-200 average from a few spots, but I had to get to the event on time, and had to pull it at about the same situation described above. One half of hte butt had almost no resistance to the probe and was registering about 200-204, the other side was high 180's low 190's. Not sure if this is normal or what. for a 7lb butt, at about 13-14 hrs my therm was reading about 194. opened the lid to put on some beans, and put the probe in a different spot, and then it started reading 181. Checked with the
thermapen to verify, and many spots were reading high 170's to mid 180's. Confused at such a difference, but I kept it on...held at 181 for what seemed like forever, and didn't get back to reading 196 for 3 more hours (and even then, like I said some spots were still registering in the 180's). That was 17 hours for a 7 lb butt. I also don't foil though, so I know that makes it take longer, but I love the bark that way.
Really can't complain, that one tasted AMAZING, but..one of these days I'll get one to 195+ throughout!...