Ahh, offseason. Pulled the trigger on a Dyna Glo offset smoker/charcoal grill combo. I did a fair bit of research, read a few books, watched a ton of Youtube videos and I'm still going into this endeavor knowing I will fuck it up the first few times. I did add a few small modifications. First I lined the inside of the doors to the main chamber and the side firebox/charcoal grill with some heat proof gasket tape to give both a tighter seal and to keep as much smoke inside as possible, and I also installed an after market thermometer at grate level between the firebox and where the meat would typically set. I also seasoned the smoker for 2 hours last night with rendered bacon fat and olive oil. I'm gonna start small with chickens and racks of spare ribs (I live by an amazing Asian market and got a full set of spareribs for like $17. Amazing price for these with great marbling and 0 shiners. I had to trim the rack and remove the breastbone and membrane, but well worth the effort for such a great deal) before I move up to my main goal which is doing full briskets on the weekends. I'm aware of using water pans, dirty vs clean smoke, seasoned wood, I've studied wrapping vs not wrapping, I'm already familiar with "done" temperatures, and I was running my temp fairly consistent in the 250-275 range for a solid 2 hours during the seasoning process with a combo of charcoal and seasoned hickory wood

So if any of you out there are well versed in indirect heat BBQ, what are your do's and don'ts? Anyone have any horror stories of failures where you felt like "Shit, I wish someone would have told me this ahead of time"? I'm trying to be as prepared as possible. 

P.S. I know that in typical Brohio fashion, I bought an entry level model to dip my toe in the water and in a month I will be selling this thing on Craigslist and buying the most expensive one because I'm a loser. 

Thanks in advance!