I use Royal Oak Chef's Select briquettes and log splits around 16" long. For this cook I used 40 pounds of charcoal, and the cook only took 7 hours so I had more than enough fuel. 12 hours later, it was still running at 175 degrees. 

If you are doing a 5–6 hour cook, 30 pounds of charcoal should be plenty. If you are doing a pig roast, refer to the owner's manual for charcoal recommendations.

I use a propane torch to light the charcoal at both ends of the cooker. With the torch, it takes 10–15 minutes to get one area well-lit. The coals should be gray as shown in the second photo below. If you have trouble getting the roaster up to temperature, it means you didn't keep the lid open long enough or light the charcoal well enough.

Refer to the owner's manual for instructions on using lighter fluid.

Set the drip pan and cooking grate back on the smoker.

As you probably know, fire management is all about controlling the amount of air you give the fire. The lid on this cooker is the entire top of the unit, so every time you open the lid it gives the fire a lot of air. The cooker also looses heat when the lid is open, but that's not a big concern because it can recover fairly quickly.

However, if you have the lid open a long time, the fire will get hotter a lot faster than it will just by opening the vents all the way. This is not a problem if you learn to harness it and use it to your advantage.

If you are not able to get the smoker hot enough, just open the lid longer to let the fire get more established. If you are running too hot, try to keep the lid closed as much as possible.

There are vents at both ends of the smoker and at both the top and bottom of the unit. It will take some time to learn how to adjust these, but as a rule start off with all the round vents open about 1/3 of the way. If you have a sliding vent, open it about an inch or two.

From there it will really just depend on how hot you fired it, the weather, and how much meat you have on the cooker (more cold meat lowers the temperature). Remember, it's easier to raise the temperature than it is to control it if you get it wildly out of control. If you happen to fire it too hot, shut the vents all the way for a while to slow it down.

As a rule, running this cooker is a piece of cake, and if you add enough fuel for the length of your cook, usually you won't need to mess with the fire once it's up and running. Having said that, I highly recommend the optional charcoal pull-out in case you need to stoke the fire or add/remove charcoal or wood.

We just trimmed the butt and seasoned it with John Henry Texas Pig Rub and Meadow Creek Black Pepper Brisket Rub before setting it on the smoker. We cooked it to 170 degrees F internal temperature and sliced it. It was excellent and the bark was amazing!

These were spare ribs and I trimmed them down to St. Louis style and removed the membrane. We seasoned them with Oak Ridge Competition Pork Rub just before putting them on the smoker. We didn't wrap or glaze them at all—just cooked them until they were tender and sliced them into single-bone servings. The bark was delightful!

We seasoned the pork loin with Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub and AP Rub and aimed for a target internal temperature of 145 degrees. We overcooked this one accidentally, so it was a bit dry, but the slices are still delicious on sandwiches.

I cut the backbones out of these whole chickens and spatch-cocked them. Then we seasoned them with Oak Ridge Secret Weapon Chicken Rub and cooked them until the dark meat reached 175 degrees F.

I trimmed the neck skin and tail, seasoned it with Meadow Creek Gourmet Seasoning, and then cooked it until it topped 175 degrees F. Duck is such a lovely, elegant dish that's easy to make.

I am by no means a lamb expert, but I kept this really simple. Just salted and rubbed it with a homemade paste of herbs and then cooked it to medium rare and sliced it.

I trimmed the fat cap a bit, seasoned it with Oak Ridge Black Ops Brisket Rub and maybe some salt/black pepper, and then cooked it to medium rare. It turned out delicious.

I still prefer rib roast, but this cut is cheaper and still worth the money. If you can get it locally, give it a try sometime. Wow, just look at this thing...

We seasoned the salmon fillet with Oak Ridge Smoky Chile Lime and cooked it with a target internal temperature of 140 degrees F. Served with homemade tartar sauce, it was delicious.

This was my first time cooking lobster, and they turned out a bit tough. I am not sure if the lower portion of the tail is supposed to be chewy or if I messed them up, but it was a fun experiment, and I look forward to trying again. 

If you want to learn how to cook lobster tails, look up Jeff Phillips's recipe on smoking-meat.com.

My wife mixed the meatloaves with her recipe, so any homestyle recipe should do the trick. We just set them on a Bradley smoker rack, seasoned them with Meadow Creek Black Pepper Brisket Rub, glazed them with Meadow Creek Traditional Barbecue Sauce, and cooked them to an internal temperature of 170 degrees F.

No cook like this is complete without sausage.