I started with one when I first started BBQ'ing like 25+ years ago. I honestly can't remember - can you do a minion method or similar and get long unattended burns on one? Or is it more effort? How did you manage fires on long cooks?
Man, back then, for me and my (stupid? no - aweoms!) friends, we would just throw hunks of cheap meat on the smoker while drinking like 18 beers. And then get up and go to work the next day feeling fine. I miss those days and that smoker
Haha....you bring back memories for me. Same deal for me and my buds, but never did long cooks. (didn't know better)
I would throw a rack or two of ribs on trimmed to fit the 18" diameter. Coals would be all the way on the bottom with chunks of hickory, put the lid on and let her rip for about 2 hours.
Maybe add a few coals and wood chunks through the door at the one hour point to keep that lid thermometer in the middle. Done! Smoked ribs! Nobody complained.
If I knew better I would have used my own thermometers, start with fewer coals for low and slow and added more wood and coals through the door over the long haul to go maybe 4 hours. I still don't wrap my ribs to this day.