Alan,
I apologize, I misunderstood your question. I thought you asked if I have ever used my Smokey Mountain without a water pan. To your question, yes I have used it with the water pan but without water in it. What I know is water does help with temperature regulation especially for long smokes and I believe it does help with humidity inside the smoker which does help with the smoke penetration of your food. Although both ways work I have gotten better results with water than without.
Kk