Smokin' Gas Grill Actually Works

Yesterday I setup my grill for smoking, as recommended here. I don't have a good oven thermometer yet to leave in the grill, so I didn't have high hopes for temperature control. My objective for the first attempt was really just proof-of-concept. Mainly I wanted to produce some smoke and get something edible out of it. I got wood chips from Tesco, of all places. Temperature control was, as expected, all over the place. But I did get smoke! I cooked a chicken and a couple sheets of pork ribs. I went light on the rub, which was brown sugar, salt, ground cumin, dried oregano, and paprika. The chicken was done in a bit over an hour and a half. The ribs I pulled off after 3 hours (once I get better at temp control, these would take longer). They were all really tasty! The smoke flavor was subtle in the chicken, but still noticeably different than chicken straight on the grill or in the oven. The ribs had a slightly smokier flavor, still not heavy by any means (the aim was to go easy on the smoke, too). So the proof-of-concept was successful, certainly successful enough to invest in a thermometer and try it again.