I found an old smoker, sanded all the rust off and repainted it with paint specifically made for grills and smokers. So I have been told to break it in several ways. 1. Just build a hot fire 2. rub it with lard and build a hot fire 3. rub the inside and out with vegetable oil and build a fire....someone tell me how I should do this. Thanks!

If it's an old smoker then it should be seasoned already. The paint on the outside doesn't matter, it's all about the condition of the steel on the inside. I've re-seasoned several pits/smokers. If it was rusty on the inside and you buffed it down, just rub the smoke chamber down good with vegetable oil, lard, or my favorite bacon grease. Get a fire going & let it go for a while. As the steel heats up & expands it will re-season itself with whatever you rubbed it down with. That's a start, the smoker will continue to season as you cook on it. Remember, seasoning a smoker/pit is most important when you're dealing with a brand new cooker. You season a new shiny cooker to (1) protect the inside & keep it from rusting, & (2) keep your food from tasting like metal the first time you cook on it. Hope this helps. Post some pics of some BBQ!!

I typically will whipe out the interior of new smokes with some towels then spray it with pam and burn several chuncks of Hickory and oak. My newest smoker I burned out for about 5 hours and it hitting temp everytime and tastes great

Like skinnerback said clean it whipe it with lard or vegi oil or something and build a fire.

I was always told not to build a hot fire when seasoning.

^^^ x2.