Alabama White Sauce on Smoked Chicken Drumsticks

Rinse chicken drumsticks with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place chicken on a wire rack or sheet pan and place in fridge for several hours to help dry the skin. This helps to ensure a better texture in the finished skin. While the chicken is drying, mix up the Alabama white sauce using 2 cups of mayonnaise, 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of finely ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Mix until smooth and refrigerate until needed. Once you are ready to season the chicken, brush some of the Alabama white sauce onto the chicken then coat the outside of the chicken with Jeff's original rub. This can be done the night before or 8-10 hours in advance if desired. Setup your smoker for cooking at 225-240°F using indirect heat. If your smoker has a water pan, leave it dry if possible to reduce humidity and help the chicken skin to end up with a better texture. Place the chicken on the smoker grate and let it smoke with a mix of maple, cherry and hickory or whatever smoking wood you have available. Leave the chicken alone for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you can crank the heat up to about 275°F if your smoker is capable of higher heat otherwise, maintain normal smoking temperatures. We will also begin brushing the Alabama white sauce on the chicken every 15 minutes until it is finished cooking. When the chicken reaches 180°F as measured by an accurate meat thermometer, it is finished and should be removed from the smoker. Serve immediately with more white sauce for dipping.