First off, lets talk the right kind of smoke. Remember, you don't want to load the
WSM with meat until you see hints of blue in the smoke. The white/grey stuff is nasty and it will make your meat taste like an ashtray. Be patient and let the blue appear. Don't be surprised if it takes up to 90 minutes for that to happen. Factor that into your smoke timing.
Next, figuring out how much smoke taste you like on your meat is the next challenge. If you use water in your water pan, more smoke will adhere to the meat. I dry smoke (no water in the pan) and use 8-10 chunks of wood, half buried in the cold charcoal when I'm adding cold charcoal to used charcoal from a previous load. If I'm starting from a bare charcoal ring, I bury it all in two levels in the cold charcoal. That way it pre-heats nicely and burns cleaner (blue smoke).
My wife is a "super-taster" and won't eat meat that has been smoked with water in the water pan. She can tell the difference between wet and dry smoked meat. Trust me, I've tested her. On a dry smoke I can load up quite a bit of wood in the charcoal and she loves it. So do I.
For beef I use only heavy tasting wood, like hickory or mesquite.
Poultry and pork I use a 50/50 mix of hickory and a fruit wood like cherry, apple, peach, or pear.
I will substitute oak or pecan for the hickory or mesquite on occasion. They're fine, just not my favorites.