Good thread, good comments and advice, including this one, BUT, ya gotta get several successful rib smokes under your belt to learn that "feel". Guess I just got lucky with my first few rib smokes. I followed the 3-2-1 to the letter, and paid constant attention to kepp the smoker temp right. As I got a few successful rib smokes down, I started noticing what "good" looked and felt like. Ya can't teach that unless ya got a hands-on teacher!