Ok... only thing I could find for doing the smoke tonight(overnight) was a
couple of roughly 8.5lb picnic shoulders, bone in. (that's how they're named
on the tag, I'm not a meat expert, so I hope I didn't get redundant with the
"bone in" part*g*). Anything in particular about the "picnic" part I need
to know? They do have a good bit of fat and the "skin" is still on in
places... leave this? Trim it? Cut slices into it and get the rub down deep
inside?

This is for the overnight smoke I was talking about in the other thread. I
purchased a couple of pizza stones that I'm going to use as a heat
"barrier"... Not sure how that's going to work, but if my eyes were right,
they're just about the perfect size to slide right in where the water pan
normally would. The instructions say not to have them over an open flame,
but even though this is a gas fired upright smoker, the wood box is directly
over the flame, and the stones will be at least 8-10" above the flame
anyway, so I don't think there'll be any problems there.

Using oak for the wood, although I have a few hickory chips left... as well
as a small apple limb. It's about 1" in diameter with the bark still on,
and still a little wet. I should've cut it up immediately when the guy gave
it to me, so the pieces would dry out quicker, but I didn't. Curious if I
should use it or not. He cut it, oh, about 2weeks ago. Any suggestions on
the wood?

I won't be able to put both shoulders on the same level, and unfortunately I
don't know how much variance there is in temp between say halfway up the
smoker and 3/4 of the way up... should I maybe swap positions sometime
during the smoke?

Lastly, not so much a question as just something I'm doing... I picked up
another remote thermometer that I'm going to use just to monitor smoker
temp. I'm figuring on setting it on about 275 for the alarm. This way I
should be able to put the shoulders in around 11:00pm to Midnight tonight,
and then go to bed. Two 8.5lb shoulders... at least 8hrs at 250-275?
Unfortunately I don't think I can set a min and max temp alarms, or I'd set
one for say 230 as well, hopefully nothing happens that my fire goes out.
*g*

Thanks all!!