Make sur eyou know the difference between the two cuts of meat on the brisket. The is a flat portion and a pointed portion. As far as I have seen, you will want to separate these two and smoke them independently. This is of course all dependent on where you buy your meat. As someone mentioned before, Costco has always been good to me. The hardest thing I find to do is control the heat in your chamber to a steady temp. You will have to closely watch your fire box for fuel, (charcoal if you use that) Wood for smoke, (some people use wood for both fuel and the smoke, and your incoming Air mixture. I've found that if I keep the air flow adjustment to very low I have more luck controlling the burning on the fuel and wood. If I leave it wide open I have too hot of a box and I kill the meat. What I am getting at is know your smoker. The last thing you should also consider is placement of the meat in distance from the hot box. (If you have the classic style that had the firebox attached to one side. If you want to smoke something "cooler" try keeping the meat as far away from the hot box as possible. This again is all relative to how your incoming vent and exhaust vent work together.