Subject: Re: leather grill gloves
The other thing about tongs I didn't like was I would have a nice crust on a piece of meat only to tear it loose grabbing it with the tongs.

Yeah, that can be a problem if you let it smoke long enough. Usually towards the end of my smokes it is getting hard to control temperature (it tries to run away on me), plus the smoking has already done its work, so I transfer to the oven (usually wrapping with banana leaves and a bit of sauce to add moisture) to finish it off. Removing it from the oven is pretty straightforward; no damage to the crust. But I did one time almost have a disaster because the meat in the smoker was already falling apart. Trying to remove it was tricky (in fact, I think I used my silicone mitts). It didn't come out in one piece.

But I do like those gloves. And since our silicone died several months ago, maybe I should replace them.