I try to keep it simple as much as possible.
I cook at 275 straight through by throwing in on the rack in zone 4, no wrapping, no pans, no basting, no tomfoolery. No problem with smoke flavor. Remember, pork shoulder is not really a smoked meat...any smoke it picks up from the cooking process is purely incidental. If you want more smoke flavor, that's up to YOU to decide.
The only thing that is vaguely complex is that I salt my shoulder 24 hours ahead of time, wrap in plastic wrap, then apply Worcestershire and my rub just before cooking. My rub does not contain any salt, as it's been already applied.
I use a temp probe so I know when to start checking for doneness. Once I'm at 190, it's time to poke it and see how it feels. Usually I'll have to get close to 200 to get to the right "probing air" feel.
After that, foil it, rest it (at least 20 mins, more if you want), pull the bone out and go to town shredding.
The PG500 is an amazing cooker and will turn out great food with almost zero work. I suggest doing it the simple way at least once to see how good things can be with pretty much no work.
