Capt Dan (and others),
I modded it a little. I lowered the smoke stack opening to just above the grate. I made a baffle and a tuning plate system. Oh yeah, I also made a rack that supports the coals so I can empty the ash pan without having to remove the burning coals.
Because I live in Idaho and the wind never stops blowing, I'm going to put em on around midnight. I can do like you said and just let me foil/towel rest for a couple hours if they indeed do finish early. I have yet to have any sort of smoking project finish early, so we'll see.
Here's a question for ya fellars, do you let your meat (butts, ribs, whatever) warm to or towards room temp before putting in the smoker? I have to imagine that two 8-9 lb butts pulled out of the fridge are going to act like some serious heat sinks and that could explain some people's troubles of getting their smokers up to temp in a timely manner. Of course, there is the fear of letting the meat get into the danger zone, as far as bacteria is concerned. Suppose it's probably a bigger deal for poultry though?