Smoked duck is one of those dishes that exposes the cook before the diner even tastes it. The skin has to render. If the skin does not render, the duck is greasy. If the duck is greasy, the dish is a failure. The render is everything.
Michael O'Halloran is executive chef at Stella New Hope in Pennsylvania, and his duck program is, per regulars, the reason to drive up from Philadelphia. He scored the skin in a tight crosshatch, salt-cured the bird overnight, and smoked it slowly enough that the fat had a real exit path. Bobby's duck, per the room, had "skin that gave." Skin that gives is skin that didn't render. The fat was still under it.