Soooo.... It's my first REAL cook. I did some burgers and dogs after I burned it in, but today I'm taking a stab at a pork butt for pulled pork.

But!!! I've got my smoker set to 180 (its lowest, even though I thought 170 was), and it is all over the place.... Between 195 and 210. Is this common?

Now.... After typing all this from my phone, it is down to 180. I'm thinking it purposely rose after I put the butt on to compensate for opening the lid. Could that be it?

Thanks!

Yes, and yes.

It is and it will still get lots of smoke and will not be an issue in your cook!

Thanks, Bentley!

When I first start mine up I normally like to let it run for about 15 to 20 minutes til it gets to my temp setting and then has time to adjust to the setting.  When I open the grill and close it it takes a few minutes to get back close to where I set my temp at. 

Thanks, wyd.  I did some googles, and discovered I should let it go to 450 to start and then lower it to my desired temp.  That is what I did prior to asking my question here, and during the course of asking, it started to get down to the 180 that I had set.

Once it hit 180...it was rock solid on holding its temps the entire cook.  I was incredibly pleased with how it turned out.  So was the wife!

Thanks, wyd.  I did some googles, and discovered I should let it go to 450 to start and then lower it to my desired temp.  That is what I did prior to asking my question here, and during the course of asking, it started to get down to the 180 that I had set.

Once it hit 180...it was rock solid on holding its temps the entire cook.  I was incredibly pleased with how it turned out.  So was the wife!

Great.  My LG900 is preset to 350 on start up which I let it go to if I need to scrape my grates.