Brisket fat cap up or down
I've been smoking (attempting) Brisket for the past 5 or so years now, didn't quite get the hang of it till last year, now it's a crowd pleaser. Fat cap up, aerodynamic trim, 12-16 hrs depending on the brisket, Montreal steak seasoning. Since I discovered the hot/warm hold, it's become a no brainer and consistently good.
However, in my pursuit of continual improvement, I like to learn how other people do it. I've recently learned that some pros smoke it fat cap down. The theory is, the rendered fat doesn't technically render directly into the meat, and smoking fat cap down protects the meat from the heat source more.
What's everybody's thought on this? I'd be worried the seasoning on the fat cap facing down would drip off with the fat. Also, the thought that the fat doesn't render directly into the meat made me consider stabbing through the fat cap into the meat with a meat tenderizer a bunch of times, hoping the fat would render into the meat through the larger pores created by the meat tenderizer.
Edit: thank you everyone for your responses! I did forget to mention I'm using a Lone Star Grillz 40" pellet smoker with a water tray (4 beers and 4 cups of pickle juice or apple cider vinegar). The heat source is far right of the smoker, similar to an offset but still in the smoke chamber. Meat placed mid section of grate. Now, I have not done a full 3D temp study of the chamber, just along the grate, so I'm not sure if I get more heat wrapping around the meat, or radiating from the diffuser. I guess I'll have to try it fat side down just to see what it does. My current setup does not dry the meat out at all, and I'm now the brisket house among my group of friends. I'm just always looking to get better. Also, I don't wrap my brisket. That may or may not play into these responses, but it might be worth noting.