Hey everyone... hello Srg.... I just purchased on of the SH 44! what a beast! This smoker is built fairly well for the money. The doors do not seal, but that shouldn't be too hard to fix. My plan is to use fireplace door gasket material glued to the door. Also, if you are ahead of the game and read this prior to assembly, using some high temp sealer around the base between the fire box & smoke box, during assembly would help with the sealing. Although its not too bad here, every little bit helps. My smoker didn't come with the glass in the door so I can't speak too much about that.
Now after seasoning this and smoking a little batch of ribs, I already got some "mods" in mind. It was rather cold, around 30deg, and I had a little trouble keeping the temp up. (partially related to door sealing) but I believe that the tank was icing up. I also believe this smoker would be easy to insulate, and that would make it much more efficient than it currently is. Between the seasoning, and the 6 hour rib smoke, I used about half a tank of propane. This smoker is about twice as big as my previous one, so I'm sure it will use a little more gas, but holy cow! I used to get 7-8 10+hour smoke in my other little smoker. I'm sure a little experimentation will prove beneficial.
At this point plans are to put a damper in the chimney, I'm sure this will help with temp control as it's just a wide open stack at this point. I also plan to put internal walls with insulation sandwiched in between, this should help with temp control & gas consumption.
This is my first new smoker in about 6 years, so it's hard not to be jacked about getting it all dialed in!
to add to what "Fireball" said, those vents are for air flow adjustment. Depending on weather, you may need to close one or the other to keep the wind from blowing out the flame. Also internal temp control may be adjusted with these.
To the left is my Cabella's 7-in-1... it's 6 years old... and puffed it's last smoke-ring1