I along with most people here prefer chunk wood. But, many of us have chips/shredded wood from our previous smokers that we want to be able to use. My plan is to save my chips for my low temp smokes because they will start smoking at a lower temperature. For longer smokes where you don't want to open the smoker (like for ribs/butts), I would stick with the chunks.
I am guessing the "foil trick" you speak of is wrapping the wood in foil and poking holes before smoking?
For your first smoke, I think I would stick with the hickory dowels (2-3 ounces) for ribs (5-6 ounces) for Butts. But that's just me.
For Baby Backs, 2-3 ounces of wood, cold meat (pre-rubbed) into a cold smoker, add a mini-loaf tin pan with some apple juice or beer, set temp at 225, and
do not open the door for 5 hours. Add another hour or two depending on how fall off the bone you like it.
Some people sauce at the 5 hour mark, but I prefer to sauce and caramelize under the broiler as I hate scrubbing that baked on sauce off of my smoker grates. Or sometimes even better, just eat them dry depending on how I am feeling.
For chips/shredded wood, you would want to use the foil or the chip plate from Smokin-It. I may save that for a time down the road when you can experiment and don't have friends/family you're trying to impress.
