re: All types of BBQ have their place and most are very tasty

lots of good comments. From hardest to easiest on the bbq scale for the four main items to actually cook
Brisket
Beef Rib
Pork Ribs
Pork Butt (you would have to intentionally try to screw up a pork butt)

Probably my favorite is dry rub pork ribs followed by brisket and beef ribs (actually my second is probably good smoked sausage but that adds a whole other item to this argument). Texas is big on smoked sausage due to our German and Czech influences - and most joints make their own versions.

For pork butt - do all of you that love it, eat it without sauce or is it always a meat that requires sauce? I've only had it in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina (plus Texas). To me it always required sauce or it had a very delicate flavor.