[Mariner]

"as opposed to cooking all the way in the smoker? "

There are several...

Too much smoke, precise temperature control and the potential of drying the meat out.

Oh, and I have achieved EXCELLENT results.

[Washi]

Cool.
I’ll give it a shot.
I stopped the smoke after about 2 or 3 hours, but continued cooking in the smoker.
Maybe that’s why mine wasn’t so good.