Well, I finally broke down and gave it a shot. I bought about a 5 pound piece of Pork Belly and dropped it in Pop's Brine for 12 days. Pulled it from the brine and dried it, placed on a cooling rack in the fridge for 24-hours, and then into the smoker yesterday. You can tell from the pictures how new the smoker is (yes I did season it first, the day before).