and ... this is personal preference btw... i dry brined this one, which is the first time i've done that. i really like that - there's less chance to get it too salty (previously i did 1:1 salt n pepper and it tasted salty to me). my rub was 3 parts black pepper, 1 part granulated onion, 1 part granulated garlic. that was a good flavor, but i think i prefer just salt n pepper... i think the next one i do will be dry brined and only black pepper for the rub. also, lessons learned, i had to slather the thing with yellow mustard to get the rub to stick after the dry brine since the outer layer was dry to the touch. it did not change the flavor of the bark at all, which made me happy.