Jack's right , If your going to "grill" remove the water pan. The smoke temp should be easy to hold between 225-275 and I would expect to get a nice long cook time smoking as well without a whole lot of tending. It takes some practice but you can turn out great results with it. Here's a picture of ole Rocky cooking Reds on a cheap version of that cooker. There is no telling how much food was cooked on that thing over the years.