Wow, I was just at S&F and looked at the brisket. They also have turkeys now getting ready for turkey day. Almost bought something but decided to wait. To answer Caroll, I soak the wood chips at least for a couple of hrs. and wrap them in foil then place on the heat element. Punch a few holes in the foil. Slow heat is usually better and long times are required. Many cuts that are smoked are some of the tougher cuts and need the longer times to get tender. Also with brisket I put it in a pan to cook in it's juices with open top for smoke flavor. If you can control the temp that helps. Some smokers have better heat controls. Much of the art of smoking is experimental and discovery is a big part of it. There is a forum on THS for outdoor cooking and gobs of info on the web. I am by no means an expert, just a back yard experimenter. Jan, any time. Would love to have you for dinner. Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking Outdoors

Don't forget to pack that laptop for the stay. We'll keep you in more stitches than Dr.Richard! ***** HA!!!!! No laptop here so I'll be going thru withdrawl from online reading and posting and the various e-mails I get. More than that I'll be missing the Rome, Italy tennis OPen but I will be home in time to see the French Open, tennis nit that I am. I do have my priorities. ( smile) And nope, I won't be tip toeing thru the tomatoes in the near future, if ever again. One of the four quad muscles I tore never came back to function after the repair so that knee buckles all the time, besides which I'll probably have to have surgery sometime for my severe spinal stenosis, but I don't even want to go there. LOL So it looks as though I'll be using this walker for the near future, whatever that means. So I'll just have to enjoy being kept in online stiches after I get home again and can read here and there. Of course Richard will have me in stiches, and I mean more than sutures, b'c he has a wicked sense of humor. LOL Off topic as can be but I'll give you one example. After the left new hip went in last June I lost both bowel and bladder function which has been attributred to my being diabetic and sensitivity to Morphine and similar. When I told him that it took five people to catheterize me, which I'm sure he already knew, he calmly ASAP said: consecutively or simultaneously. LOL Richard is a Master of repartee and I gave him a book on same. One in that book that I remember well was when someone asked Ghandi what he thought of Western Civilization he said he thought it would be a good idea. LOL And so it goes and I'm off now to take a last drive to look at the wildflowers I can see from the car. I know the coltsfoot and Hepatica are out and I have Bloodroot here at home that's out, but I was hoping to see some early Trilliums and possibly some wild Columbine, the latter of which I also have here at home but here it's not out yet. And then to start packing since tomorrow looks very busy indeed. Sigh. Carolyn

I ordered a cover for the smoker (HD does not stock them in stores) from Amazon, and we will probably leave it outside most of the time. It is in a spot that gets a lot of afternoon sun, and so it did not take much energy to get it to temperature. After the sun went down, we had to turn the heat up a bit. The manual says that it will take more energy when the outside temperature is below 65 degrees, but if it is that cold here during the day, it is usually raining, and so we would not be using it then. I think we'll probably use this more in the winter than we do the regular barbeques because it requires less attention. I really like the amount of space inside. Lars

Thanks, all! Yes, we are home in Chicagoland now, but I hope I can try some of these great-sounding remedies when we get back to the condo next January. I've double-bagged the spread and put it in Owner Storage. I've told our cleaner to inform me if she starts to smell it, in which case it will have to go 'home' to the Salvation Army for someone else to puzzle over. I wish I'd known that I could try charcoal or baking soda -- they could be *working* while we are gone! Meanwhile I am using a very nice -- not AS nice -- plain coral spread and shams that I got at Macy's "on sale". ($80). Brushworks -- Do you know what is the active ingredient in the OdoBan? (Love the Q & A's that ask if you can wash your dog in it! heehee)