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A nice pit smoked barBQ will have a deep patina, it will tend to fall off the bone, and not retain any toughness.

As a general rule of thumb for beef brisket, it is smoked for a minimum of 6 hrs and generally the lower the temp the better, so long as it may have had an initial seer or a covering to ensure it doesn’t dry out over those 6 hours.

If the final meat is tough, it wasn’t well prepared BarBQ.

A nice pit smoked barBQ will have a deep patina, it will tend to fall off the bone, and not retain any toughness.

As a general rule of thumb for beef brisket, it is smoked for a minimum of 6 hrs and generally the lower the temp the better, so long as it may have had an initial seer or a covering to ensure it doesn’t dry out over those 6 hours.

If the final meat is tough, it wasn’t well prepared BarBQ.

I disagree, for the perfect rib (at least according to competitive judges), you should be able to bite cleanly through the rib, and then cleanly pull away, without the rest of the meat pulling from the bone. There should be no toughness, but the meat should neither be falling apart, or falling from the bone.

Brisket can be over smoked, and get a bitter taste. I prefer the 'fast and hot' method. I take prepared brisket (already been trimmed, injected, marinated, and rubbed), and place it fat side put into an aluminum pan. I have the smoker between 300 and 350, with a harder wood, such as hickory, or pecan. I smoke the brisket for 2.5 hours, I then remove it, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and put back in smoker for 1.5 hours or point reaches 205 degrees. I then remove the pan from the smoker, and either place it in a cooler, or wrap it in a blanket. I then let it rest for 4 hours. When done, remove the juices, strain rease, and bring au-jus up to simmer. Slice brisket, and pour on au jus.

One of the things I love about the fast and hot method, is that while the brisket is resting, since I only have one smoker, I can smoke some chickens, or ribs.

Chickens are best, IMHO, with a lot of smoke, the meat is pink. I smoke the chickens low, at 225, with apple (or peach) wood, until they reach 140. I spatchcock them, so that 1) they will finish quicker, and 2) it makes them much easier to carve. Once they reach 140, I remove them from the smoker, and put them on a grill that's at 350. I leave them on the grill until they reach 165. The reason for the grill it to try to get the skin edible. The skin of poultry need to be at 300 degrees for at least a half hour, or it will be be like rubber.

For ribs, I only do pork (I don't care for beef ribs), and I prefer the 3-2-1 method. I use St Louis ribs, with membrane removed. For rub, I use store bought Salt Lick. Step 1, smoke for 3 hours at 225, with peach wood. Step 2, wrap in aluminum foil, with brown sugar,parkay,peach preserve, and tiger sauce, and smoke for 2 hours. Step 3, remove from wrap, add a little more rub, and smoke for 1 more hour.