I smoke at the very end. You use the brain/egg to soften with. I scrape (wet) and get off all the muscle, veins, and membrane that I can. I then do the salt rub and work it till its dry. I then dry scrap it to get all the membrane off. After that, I will wash it, which gets it wet again, and do a little stretching to help the emulsifiable oils in the egg/brain/netoil ect, to get in the skin (dry scraping helps this as well). I then wrap it on its self and cover with a damp towel and let it set for a while. IF it is cool, I let it set longer. I then put it on the stretcher and work it. I will add more brain/egg where it needs it. As it starts drying, I keep working it with the end of a broom handle. I do this until it is as soft as I want. Once I have it soft and dry, I smoke it. Smoke preserves the skin. I have alternated smoke and stretching before, but found the method i mentioned works best for me.