Poncing about with 'dry rubs' [img=left]https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/icon25.gif[/img] and cooking half a dinosaur for a week seems to be something of a colonial thing - for a smoky taste I just bung some wood chips on the one true fuel and that works just fine.
BEagle, there is a very fundamental difference between 'grilling' with some wood smoke, and proper BBQ - done at very low temperature for several hours with smoke from various wood types. The results simply are not comparable.
While grilling can produce very tasty meat when properly done (and in general is quicker and more practical than actual BBQ), proper and well done BBQ is simply another level of delicious and has the extra advantage of being able to turn sub-par cuts of meat into mouthwatering meals.
Proper BBQ has enjoyed massive growth in popularity here in the colonies - a couple decades ago you needed to look long and hard to find good BBQ outside of the southeastern US (and if you walked in, and there wasn't a grisly old black guy doing or at least supervision the cooking, you probably wanted to go elsewhere). But today good BBQ is readily available in nearly everywhere in the US (for the best stuff you probably want to avoid the chains, although some of the chains such as 'Famous Dave's' do a decent job and have the advantage of consistency).
Next time you're on this side of the pond, you should check it out. As the old saying goes, don't knock it until you've tried it...