Here's why I think you cut the skin off
after smoking.
Because it's too damn hard when it's attached to a cold, solid piece of meat! (Hence the usual immersion in boiling water of a freshly terminated whole pig. Perhaps Bruce has a picture he'd like to share here...)
That said, when I made bacon from entirely skinned pieces, the result was... exactly the same. (Well, not exactly, since it was Bob in Ga. pork and thus much better tasting than the commercial kind, but functionally it was the same. No significant heat shield effect, anyway.)
* * *
I do need to find a better place for pork bellies, though, than Peoria. I went today and the ones I found were all very thin in some spot (I think they trim for maximum meatiness on the ribs) and I only found one worth buying out of 10 or 12; since I like to make two flitches at the same time, I had to select a rib belly (that is, one with some ribs still attached).
Which brings us to another source of less than complete gruntlement as a customer. You will note in one of Cathy's clandestine photos above a sign just visible to the right of the service window promising that they will cut almost anything almost any way the customer wants it. Well, on my first try I found one of the exceptions: they will not trim the ribs off a rib belly, even when you assure them you're going to buy both. Not sure what the reason is (not price-- rib belly costs slightly more than the trimmed sans ribs) and frankly I don't care; all that matters is, I didn't really find what I wanted and they wouldn't help me get it to where it was what I wanted. Not that big an issue since trimming the ribs is relatively simple, but still, I came out with a mind to look for other options, and presumably will.