All,

After reading everyone's comments here and in a BBQ recipe book, two
weeks ago I bought 2 6 1/2lb Boston butts for pulled pork. The meat
looked really good when I picked it up from the meat shop - just a
thin layer of fat on one side. I made up a rub of Spanish paprika,
brown sugar, rosemary, salt, chili powder, and I don't remember what
else, rubbed it on both, covered with plastic wrap, and let it sit in
the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, I started my smoker, put in a water pan under the butts,
put a remote thermometer into one of them, let the smoker take care of
the rest. I think I added charcoal 6 times over the course of the
day, and I had the thermometer set to go off when the internal temp
hit 165 which took about 5 hours. I also used two mesquite chip smoke
packets. When I took them off the smoker, they smelled great and
looked wonderful. Then I wrapped them up in foil and let them sit for
about an hour.

That's when the disappointment started. I was expecting the meat to
just fall apart with a little help from a fork. Instead, it took my
wife and me close to 45 minutes to pull both of the butts. They
tasted good, but it was anything but mouth-watering-tender. We served
it on buns with a little drizzle of BBQ sauce and some home-made Cole
slaw. No one went away hungry, but I went away pretty unhappy.

As far as I know, I made the right choice for the meat and a good
choice for the rub. That leaves me and the smoker, and I'm pretty
sure the problem wasn't the smoker. So, what would make two really
good-looking pieces of meat turn out tough and hard to pull?

Thanks,
Tim