Hmmm I wonder if he still has charcoal baskets that fit inside these small smokers, I have a 30gal drum that I want to make a smoker out of and I believe its 18in. also.
We used the BPS Drum along with a WSM at the guinea Pig competition ( Our first).
We cooked the ribs and chicken on it. I started the drum at 5am and at 2 pm. Took the lid off so it could burn out the remaining coals so it could be emptied. Ran the drum at 275. We do have a guru on the BPS Drum and the WSM. The way we use it is as a safety valve. Try and run using only the vents to control temps, and have the guru to add air if it runs a little cool and mainly on start up. Start with a weber cube and then set temp and let the guru help get to temp. Honestly the fan runs very little this way after start up. For our first comp, we were satisfied with the results. The Drum worked perfect and will use it at the next one.
Used my BPS in the Atlanta BBQ Festival two weekends ago. We placed 12th out of 50 in chicken cooked on it and has several perfect score cards. We used it for brisket and chicken.