Start this process the night before your cook. Pat the pork picnic roast completely dry with paper towels, removing all surface moisture. Score the skin in a crosshatch pattern using a sharp knife, cutting through the fat cap but not into the meat itself. This helps the rub penetrate and the fat render properly during the long cook.

Combine the brown sugar, smoked paprika, kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and dried mustard powder in a bowl and mix thoroughly until everything is evenly distributed. This is your dry rub and it is the foundation of your bark.

Coat the entire surface of the pork picnic with yellow mustard, working it into every crevice and fold. This acts as a binder to help the rub stick and adds a subtle tang that disappears completely during the cook. Do not skip this step - it makes a real difference in bark quality.

Apply the dry rub generously and aggressively all over the mustard-coated pork, pressing and patting it firmly into every surface including the underside and around the bone. You want a thick, even coating that will caramelize into that legendary bark over the course of the cook. Wrap the seasoned roast tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or for a minimum of 4 hours.

Fire up your smoker or kettle grill about 45 minutes before you plan to start cooking. Use your chimney starter to get your charcoal fully ashed over, then set up for indirect heat with the coals on one side and a drip pan filled with water on the other side. Add two chunks of your chosen wood to the coals and dial in your smoker temperature to a steady 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not place the meat on until you have held that temp steady for at least 20 minutes.

Remove the pork picnic from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while your smoker stabilizes. Place the roast fat side up on the grate over the drip pan, away from direct heat. Insert your probe thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, making sure it does not touch the bone, and close the lid. You are in it for the long haul now.

Maintain your smoker temperature between 225 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the entire cook. Add wood chunks every 90 minutes for the first 4 to 5 hours to keep thin blue smoke flowing - that is the good smoke. Thick white billowing smoke is acrid and will give your meat a bitter flavor. Every 90 minutes, open the smoker and spritz the pork generously with a 50/50 mix of apple juice and apple cider vinegar. This builds color, adds moisture, and helps develop that deep mahogany bark.

Around the 4 to 5 hour mark, you will hit what pitmasters call the stall - the internal temp will plateau somewhere between 155 and 170 degrees and seem like it is not moving for hours. This is completely normal. The moisture evaporating from the surface is cooling the meat at the same rate it is gaining heat. Do not panic and do not crank up the temperature. Hold your position and trust the process.

Once you have hit an internal temp of around 165 degrees and you are happy with the color and bark formation on the outside, you can optionally wrap the pork in two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil with a splash of apple juice poured inside before sealing. This is called the Texas Crutch and it pushes the meat through the stall faster and keeps it incredibly moist. If you prefer a firmer, thicker bark, skip the wrap and push through the stall unwrapped.

Continue cooking, wrapped or unwrapped, until the internal temp reaches 200 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, a probe thermometer inserted anywhere in the meat should slide in with zero resistance, like pushing it into warm butter. This tells you the collagen has fully broken down and the meat will pull apart beautifully. Total cook time for a 7-pound picnic roast is typically 10 to 12 hours at 225 degrees.

Rest the meat. This step is non-negotiable. Remove the pork from the smoker, keep it wrapped in foil if you used the wrap method, and place it in an empty cooler lined with old towels. Close the cooler and let the roast rest for a minimum of 1 hour, and up to 2 hours. This resting period allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat so every bite is moist and flavorful instead of running out onto the cutting board.

After resting, unwrap the roast and transfer it to your large cutting board. The meat should be so tender that pulling it apart by hand is almost effortless. Use two forks or heat resistant gloves to pull the pork into large chunks, discarding any large pieces of fat or the bone. Chop and mix the bark pieces into the pulled pork so every serving gets some of that incredible crust. Serve immediately with your favorite BBQ sauce on the side.