Hello Brroksy. I grew up watching the old men back in Texas smoking and grilling. I have been doing this for almost 40 years now. Back in those days Dad, Grandpa and Uncles didn't have the fancy meat therms. We were young boys and saw the old men poke the meat and put their hand on the smoker to judge temp and "doneness". Of course we followed along and tried it to learn. Got a good burn on my hand once or twice till I learned how. That's a lot of years experience. When we had our weekend meet here in the U.K. I did a smallish brisket using no therms at all. Just to show folks it can be done the old school dumb hard way. The brisket wasn't dry and tasted good but was over cooked. It should have sliced but just fell apart. I went too long for fear I might not get it completely done and someone might get sick. If I had used a therm that brisket would have turned out perfect. I always say pay attention to such things as how the coals look, put your hand on the smoker to judge temp, the heat coming from the exhaust, and then the "feel" of the meat when done. That way if your therm packs up during your smoke you have some reference to finish the cook. The point is with experience I still messed up that brisket. It would be irresponsible for us to start posting things saying a therm is not needed. You never know how "new" some folks are. They may have never smoked anything before. The last thing we want is for someone to get sick from following our advice. I ALWAYS tell folks to get a good therm and use it! Many folks don't have years of experience to fall back on. I have done many things with the grill and smoker I would NEVER post on the open forum! If you want to exchange ideas on this please do it by PM. Remember you never know who is reading the thread and what experience they have. I have one friend here who saw me remove a 15lb brisket from the smoker. He then decided that if I could do it, any idiot should be able too. Luckily I was invited to his first attempt. Thankfully I showed up early to help out. The food safety issues were so much so that I almost suggested he throw the brisket and chicken away. Sorry for the novel. Just my 2 cents. Keep Smokin!
Danny