My uncle's offset smoker ran on oak splits only and nobody under 40 believes me
My uncle ran a small pit in Lockhart, Texas for close to 30 years and he never once used charcoal briquettes or a pellet feeder. He split oak by hand every Saturday morning, kept his firebox around 275, and judged everything by the back of his hand, not a probe. I see folks online now saying you need a digital controller and a 12 hour cook plan or the brisket is ruined, and that just was not how it worked for him. He cooked packers at 225 to 250 for 14 to 16 hours and wrapped in butcher paper only when the bark set, usually around hour 8. What matters is the fire and the feel, not the gear, and it bugs me when people say you cannot cook good bbq without the gadgets. Anyone here learn on a stick burner before all this tech came around?