Here is the techniques I teach in competition BBQ'n classes:
This technique can be used for pork spares or Baby Backs cooking time will very based on which ribs you cook.
I will start with spares. They will be trimmed St Louis style. Two hours before they are to go on the pit I will rub front and back.
The pit temps I use are 250 to 275 with your choice of wood for smoke.
The first portion of the cook will last aprox 3 hours, during this part of the cook I am looking for color, it is that nice carmel color and you will see the meat to just start to pull back on the bone. Once the right color is achieved I will move into the second part of the cook.
In this stage I take H/D foil spread some honey, hit with a little cayenne pepper and a little hot pepper sauce. I place the ribs face down in the mixture and repeat the the process on the back side. Add some fruit juice (apple or pineapple is a good choice), seal the foil and place back on the pit. This part of the cook will last 45 min to an hour on average. What I look for is more pul back of the maet on the bone and the ribs become tender. You can use toothpick, sliding into the met between the bones, if it feels like it is going into warm butter they are ready to remove.
At this point remove the ribs from the foil placing them back on the cooker and apply glaze. The glaze should be set in 15 to 30 min based on pit temp.
This just one technique there are others, this is more of a process than a recipe. You can use any good pork rub and a sauce that will balance out the flavor print
I look for a flavor print that when eaten you will first get the sweetness of the sauce, then the tang also from the sauce with spice and a little heat come through at the end from the rub. I look for a rub that is on the spicy side (heat wise) and use a suace that I sweeten up with honey.
Jim