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Give it a try. I can tell you that after a few hrs over an open fire, there’s plenty of flavor imparted. No, you won’t have a smoke ring, but you’ll have some damn good brisket. I’ve done it over the fire pit as well as in the grill (direct heat) and both are good. One benefit is that after the water bath you can chill the meat, still in the bag, and then finish it at your leisure. Pull the bag, put it on fire for a few hours, and it’s golden. To your point about not taking flavor here is what Kenji Lopez-alt had to say about it on serious eats: Is it better to apply that smoke before or after cooking sous vide? Well, according to folks like Meathead Goldwyn, author of the eponymous book Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling at Amazon, the flavorful compounds in smoke will adhere to and penetrate raw meat much better than they will cooked meat. This is true, but I find that the amount of smoke flavor I get out of a post–sous vide session in the smoker is plenty for my taste buds, and smoking at the end makes the process so much more efficient. I'll stick to the post–sous vide smoke. https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-barbecue-smoked-bbq-brisket-texas-recipe#toc-to-smoke-or-not-to-smoke They also suggest a little pink salt in the bag during the sous vide to get the “smoke” ring, but that juice isn’t worth the squeeze, IMHO.

I cooked my first hot smoked salmon earlier this week. A little saltier than I prefer - either too much in the brine or kept in the brine too long. Nothing a little lemon juice doesn't fix. Pick of whole cooked filet was taken after I dug in - forgot to get a full cooked shot. Nothing fancy - farm raised atlantic skinless filet from Costco, brine of water, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I've had some bougie snacks the last few days

There may be a divergence between appearance and reality, here. In competition one starts meat cold, to maximize the smoke effect. There's a cutoff temperature after which a smoke ring won't form. And judges, who have their palates blown by competitors with coarse smoke handling, look for this ring. There's a camp that finishes in the oven, perhaps after transport, because smoke no longer matters after the ring has formed. I see the error in this logic, but I don't know for a fact that smoke at later stages matters that much. When I was commuting to NYC I'd smoke BBQ part way, chill it, vacuum pack it and freeze it, then friends would finish it any way that came to mind. In the oven? In a pot of beans? Choucroute? I don't have experience flipping this order, but my intuition is that late smoking isn't as effective.

I bet it's similar to doing a pork "brisket." These are damn tasty cuts of pork goodness, too! Pork Brisket – Porter Road