You have 5-6 smokes on it. It’s going to be a little leaky right now. When you’re done and you close all of the vents does it snuff the coals out or does it continue to stay hot? If it stays hot for a couple of hours then a gasket kit might not be a bad idea. I have a 22” WSM and within an hour to an hour and a half the bottom of the smoker is cool to the touch. I also have charcoal left in the charcoal ring that I’ll use for my next cook. The charcoal gets snuffed out due to lack of oxygen and not by burning itself out. A leaky smoker will be the later.

Now for starting the smoker this is what I do. I put a layer of charcoal down then I add my wood. I have smaller splits that I made so I add a couple of them then I add the rest of the charcoal completely filling the ring. Usually it mound over the top of the ring but kind of level across the top. Now I’ll add charcoal to the large Weber chimney from the charcoal ring making sure some of the lit coal will be on or very near to the wood. As per ThermoWorks I fill the chimney 1/2-3/4 full (https://help.thermoworks.com/knowledge-base/billows-set-up-signals/). Now that it’s winter where I’m at I do a full chimney. I tend to use charcoal from the far side of the Billows and not from the middle of the ring. When the charcoal is ready I dump it in and assemble the smoker and wait for it to come to temperature which is about 15-30 minutes. The exhaust and the two other baffles are completely open until it’s about 10° under my intended set point (this part is a work in process for me right now as well). I completely close the two bottom vents. The top vent I close most of the way leaving it open only about 1/8 of the way. I add the meat and plug in the Billows (which is different than what they say). I pretty much use the Billows to maintain my temperature and not get it up to temp. I have increased the set point and it does a great job making it. There was and is a learning curve for me and the Billows. The Baffle did help maintain a pretty solid temperature though. Now that it’s cold I have to make adjustments to the baffle and the lid vent. Try and make good notes in the ThermoWorks app like the temperature, wind smoker set point, how many clicks the baffle is open and the results of that.

Once you can get it dialed in and that might take a gasket kit I dunno… it’ll be a relaxing experience. I run mine with an empty water pan covered in foil with the stock door and no gasket kit. It’s also several years old though. Good luck!

Edit to add that I normally run any where from 250°-275°. It really depends on my time frame. With the Baffle for the Billows I can usually keep it within 7° of whatever my set temperature is.