I remember reading something in Cooks Illustrated or Cooks Country about what brining does by doing it first and then marinading and doing it the other way. I'll try to pull it out of cranial extraction rather than rectal extraction and try to recall. There is a chemical reaction when you brine first in that it opens the molecules of the meat so that it can better receive the marinade...and I think smoke will do the same thing... and there is osmosis involved. So, my abdominal sensation is that the brining first will produce a better product. Now, preservation is another issue of which my opinion would be that of rectal extraction and y'all who know me know I never, ever do that. Dee