I was gifted a kingsford charcoal water smoker and have no idea how to start using it.

I’ll admit, I’ve been a gas griller due to convenience, but I do enjoy smoked food.  I’d like to learn how to get started and I’m looking for help.

Step 1: obtain smoker
Step 2: ...

Thanks

Your smoker looks a lot like the Weber smokey mountain aka WSM aka bullet smoker. Youtube is your friend.

There are basically 2 different ways to burn your charcoal.
1. Minion method. Fill the bottom with charcoal and light a chimney full and dump them in. The lit coals will ignite the rest. Adjust your air vents as needed.
2. Snake method. Line up your coal around the edge of the cooker but don't let the ends touch. Light one end for a long burn (8hrs) or both ends if you want more heat. I use this one the most. Put a brick or 2 at 6 o clock and fill the rest with charcoal. On my WSM with 2 bottom vents open about 1/4" it will burn a full 8hrs.  

Add wood chunks on top of your charcoal, any fruit wood like apple, pear, cherry will give a nice mild taste. Oak and hickory will give a stronger smoke flavor. Ive tried it all, even maple. I prefer hickory or apple. Just a few small pieces are needed. You want a light blue smoke coming out of the top vent, too much smoke will make the meat taste kind of bitter.

Using the water pan is optional, sometimes I fill it, sometimes I leave it empty. I can't tell any difference.

Heres a few links for you.
https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/operating-tips-modifications/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=running+a+WSM

https://www.youtube.com/c/TROYCOOKS/videos

Have fun and get out there cooking something!

Thanks for the reply and tips.

There are 2 theories on water pans.

A: the water helps regulate temperature. This is true, especially for the 225 degrees you will most often smoke low & slow like pork butts etc bc water boils at 212. So any time the temperature really starts to spike it will boil more water.

B: the water boiling off keeps the meat moist. This is pretty much false. What does happen, especially when the meat is still cold is the water boils off and then condenses in the meat. Thus process more rapidly transfers heat to the meat early in the cook. The effect almost too small to notice.

I use water bc of the combined effect of both theories. I definitely "feel like" I can see a difference in temperature regulation. But it's really hard to say for sure without logging continuous temperature data for many, many smokes. And then you still have the weather variable that would have to be accounted for in that data.

I agree 100% the water pan helps regulate temps. I just can't tell that it matters by how the meat tastes.
Some of the best ribs I have tasted were cooked around 350 degrees. Pork butts done at that temp have been good too. If I'm trying to hold 225 and its gets a bit hotter I don't worry too much.