w squared

Have you smoked (meat) before? I'd suggest a pork shoulder as a good first smoke. It's far more forgiving...and generally less expensive.

I love brisket that's been done well - even more than I love a good pork butt (which is saying something), but my (limited) experience is that it's good to build your skills with more forgiving and less expensive cuts, and then take the step up to doing a brisket after two or three pork butts.