9ish hr smoke yesterday for this nice chunky chuck roast on the Weber smoker. SPG only for the rub. Starting to really get away from packaged rubs all together over the last couple years. The best meats I've smoked lately have only been salt/pepper or salt pepper garlic. For pork I'll add some other stuff especially brown sugar but beef doesn't need all these fancy overpriced rubs IMO.
I saw some ribeye competitions several years ago and some of those guys would use salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. That's it. I did my steaks that way for years and it does let the meat stand on its own so it isn't overpowered with spices. I switched to weber Chicago steak seasoning at some point and that's been my go to for years now finished with a little butter on top. I'm due up to go back to the simpler version though because I'm kinda burned out on the Chicago seasoning.
I never done a brisket yet, finally worked up the courage. My wife was at Sam's Club told her to pick one up, I had no clue they were that much $$$. She picked up one but not knowing she bought just the flat at $50 bucks not her fault at all. I know they are much leaner and harder to smoke we could take it back but the lady said they wouldn't sell the meat since it left the store, so now I feel bad so we might just give it a go. I don't want to destroy $50 piece of meat but I guess I could be worse me destroying $100 piece of meat, lol! I know brisket is fantastic if done right but the work involved and cost I don't think I'll be doing many of them, I'll stick to ribs, butts, chicken, etc... I really want to upgrade my offset but just cannot find the right balance of price and features. Old Country came out with a G2, it's just about perfect but actually smaller than the Brazos and my current Oki Joe. I don't cook that much meat and probably fine but from time to time I do cook a bunch for company and family functions.