1st - condolences for your taste/smell - I had COVID last summer and never lost taste or smell. I was as sick as I've ever been otherwise, though. My wife lost taste/smell and had no other symptoms.
2nd - If any of you had ever sampled briskets from my stick burner, you'd understand why I was on a pellet smoker. Anything else on my stick burner has turned out great, but for 2+ years good brisket has eluded me. I eventually moved to the pellet smoker for convenience sake. I'm not going to try and argue that it gets the same results - it doesn't - but on 90% of what I cook, it gets the job done satisfactorily.
Onto the brisket - it turned out okay. Didn't have much of a stall. Spent the last two hours watching the point go from 185-198. Probe never went in as easily as I'd have liked. The problem is that during the same time, the flat went from 190-212. I pulled it because I didn't want to obliterate the flat. The flat was a little overdone, but probably saved by the fact it was a wagyu. Point was underdone. It tasted more like a beef roast than a brisket, which I will attribute to the oven and the lack of smoke. We ate the flat and I made chopped beef of what was left over. Which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be the best chopped beef I've ever made.
Thanks to all for the encouragement and advice.
