Took me 3 weekends to realize my smoker lid was leaking, and the fix was a $4 gasket
Kept chasing temp swings on my offset for 3 straight cooks at a comp in Tulsa, blaming my wood splits and even swapped out my thermometer twice. Finally an old pitmaster named Roy walked over, ran his hand along the lid seam, and said 'son, you're leaking air like a screen door' - a $4 felt gasket strip fixed a problem I'd been fighting for 3 weekends. Anyone else waste way too long on something dumb before a seasoned guy points it out?