I guess I can start off with my first experience.
I bought a 2 pound "mini-brisket" which probably wasn't actually a brisket (no fat cap) I started the coals going in a coal chimney filled 3/4 the way up. I should have started this process earlier because that shot the temperature of the grill to about 450 and it took a good 45 minutes to bring it down to 250. I put some hickory chips to get a nice smoke. Another mistake I made was not soaking the chips so they caught fire and raised the temperature again. I didn’t marinade the meat because I wanted the rub flavor to come through without competing. After a few hours I hit the “stall”.” I thought I can push through it but after a couple of more hours of no temperature rise, I gave in and wrapped the meat. That brought the temp up to 180 pretty quickly. Overall the meat tasted awesome, with a nice smoke ring, but it was a little more tough, probably because I should have wrapped it right when I hit the stall at 140.
Overall not a bad first experience. A lot of little lessons learned.