Hey Bighoss, great advice from Joe (as usual). I, too, have become a big convert to the unwrapped cooking method. I think a lot of that was developed for the smokers that tend to dry meat out a lot more, so it was designed to counter that. These units, especially with a water pan, just produce moist results; no wrapping necessary! As for the water pan, you shouldn't need to refill it, even during a long smoke. I use aluminum "mini loaf pans" and fill them about 1/2 full. Never had one go dry.