[Sean "Puffy" Coals]

Well, I already completed one of my New Year's resolution (cooks)- I bit the bullet and did my first whole pork shoulder picnic.

Fired up the drum at 10:00 this morning and let it heat up while I trimmed off the skin and excess fat. The picnic was 8.67 pounds at the start, but I figure I trimmed 1-1.5 lbs of skin and fat off.

I purposely went with a medium/small sized shoulder to cut down on the cooking time. Being my first one, I figured if it was no good or I over cooked it or something, at least I didn't spend 16hrs cooking the darn thing.

I rubbed it down with a batch of my "Dynamite" rib rub I had lying around. It's a little sweet, super savory with a tiny little punch of cayenne.

Temps were up to almost 300* when I put the shoulder into the drum. I adjusted the inlet and the temp evened out at 255* for the rest of the cook once I got it dialed in. The smell of sweet cherry smoke and that shoulder actually woke my wife up.

The smoker stayed closed for the next 5 hrs. I checked the external thermo about every hour or so. By just about 8pm, the internal temp hit 190* ( i checked several different locations, they were all within a few degrees) I took it out and let it rest for an hour, then pulled it. I would have rested it longer but I have to work early tomorrow.

The results are awesome. The wife can't stop eating it! Gonna have to do this again real soon.

I do have some pics, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow- i have to be up in 4 hours for work.

Thanks for lookin!