HNF or LNS. I believe it all depends on the cooker and the way they draw. Too me there is a world of difference between a kettle, wsm, or BGE and cooking with charcoal as opposed to a all wood offset cook.
I leaned to cook on offset/stick burners running the tradition 250 with 260-275 spikes at most. I am way old fashion for me it is SPOG mostly or a good simply rub for brisket, butts, ribs. 250 does produce a good "traditional BBQ" smoke flavor and the taste of the meat come through. At 300-325 on my offset it is like a carb running lean. Too much air and not enough fuel the meat does not retain the smoke flavor or the color I want. It's BBQ but not spot on smoke flavor, to me.
On here there are many who cook on smaller pits at higher temps, charcoal, lump, wood chunks for smoke tons of rub, different injections, that do produce a different flavor to the meat. Higher heat with less smoke and more flavor from the rubs/injections, and sauces.
I think it is kind of like comp. bbq it is really good and different but not what I want eat everyday. Many want that wow factor all of the time. When I buy a pack of baloney I expect it to taste like baloney. Call me old fashioned I guess.
However, thanks to many here I am finding that after 30 some years I am still learning.
