What causes a tough butt? I smoked two 8 lb. butts to the recomended internal temps. They looked ok and like I said the internal temps were about 165 deg. F. Unfortunatly the meat was like leather and very difficult to pull apart. Is some meat just tough? I was going to wrap in foil and recook for a few hours but I didn't. I rubbed the meat 24 hours ahead of time. I didn't marinate. I'm not sure what to think. These were the Sam's club cryovac butts.