Only if you plan to eat it without reheating after initial smoke do you need to bring it up to that high of IT, even then at 225 you are going to render out fat before the IT is reached. Try not to smoke at over 180 till IT of 152 is reached. If you plan on only eating it cooked in the frying pan like the majority of bacon, you only need to smoke it in the colder ranges, preferably not over 110 F. I will typically cold smoke mine at around 80 F for 10 to 12 hours, longer in the smoker, more pronounced smoke flavor. Depending on the smoke you want in the finished product and smoker type you use (I'm old school with an all wood smokehouse), you can smoke for as little as a couple hours, wrap, refrigerate a couple days, slice, package. Make sure you let the slab dry and form a pellicle in the fridge unwrapped at least overnight before putting in the smoker for best smoke adhesion and penetration. Before smoking make sure you slice off a test piece and fry up to gauge the salt level, if it tastes too salty, you can soak in clean water for an hour or so to help desalinate. Again make sure you dry the slab and let it from the pellicle before smoking if you do soak.