[HOST'S NOTE: The original discussion, "Behold my butt!" became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up. The first part of the discussion is here: Behold My Butt! (2003–2006)] I recently smoked my first Boston Butt: 2 hours in a smoker followed by 12 hours in the oven- and have a couple of questions, even after reading through the "smoking" threads here. (A full write-up on the smoking session, along with a couple unanswered questions reposted here, can be found at: http://blogs.sun.com/rama/entry/bbq_smoked_pulled_pork ) - Would a BBQ-only session produce significantly different flavor (than the 2 hour smoke, finish in the oven technique)-- it seems after the first few hours of smoking, the meat would form an impermeable protein layer and render additional smoking moot, and only the dry heat comes into play? (Surely this isn't the case, or people would just do a short intense smoking on the 'que and finish in the oven like I did-- but I haven't seen any scientific reasoning to dismiss such as approach.) EDIT: since writing this, I've read here that the chemical reactions responsible for the "smoke ring" stop above 140F, but what I'm really curious about is the flavor, especially given the low surface to mass ratio of a boston butt. - Would cutting the pork butt in half to increase surface area as well as shorten cook times have any adverse affect, such as moisture content? Cooking it whole until it reached an internal temp of 190F was *plenty* moist, so I'm not too concerned about dry meat. If anything, next time, I'll remove any visible fat prior to applying the dry rub. (I lost a lot of tasty "bark" this time when I removed a slab of external fat post cook.) The lazy cook in me wants to butterfly the butt, smoke for 2 hours and finish in the oven- probably close to 6 hours. Considering I finish the pulled pork with a sauce prior to serving, would this be a disservice? I'd appreciate any thoughts...