The more I look at old craftsmanship like that, the more I notice how we've traded durability for speed everywhere. Our houses are built in weeks, their theaters took years. We've got laser levels and compound miter saws, yet we still can't match what a guy with a knife and a chalk line did by hand. It makes you wonder if all our fancy tools just let us make mistakes faster.

Man that frustrates me just reading it. I did the exact same thing for months and couldn't figure out why my briskets took forever. It really sucks putting in all that time and effort just to have the stall drag on like that. Butcher paper is great but it's not magic, you gotta let that fat start breaking down first or it just steams the meat. I switched to waiting until the bark set really dark and the fat cap got a little tacky before I wrap, usually around 170-175 for me. Made a huge difference in how fast the cook finishes up. Have you tried letting it ride unwrapped for a bit longer too?