Great looking bacon, Chef Bubba!
When I make mine I stay around the 20gram salt per kg of meat. It's a good cure and not over salty.
basic bacon cure recipe
1 .One 10lb slab of pork belly, rind removed
2. 2 tsp pink salt (Prague Powder)
3. 1/3rd cup salt
4. Generous cup of sugar - cane or brown sugar.
5. Any desired spices - Rinse, dry, set on racked sheet in fridge overnight before smoking
I do two types of smoking for my bacon, hot smoke and cold smoke. When I hot smoke I normally just light a couple of pieces of lump and then place the smoking wood on top. Because it's such a small bit of wood/lump...keeping lower temperatures isn't a problem. Remember when smoking, hot or cold, you need good air flow. I also go to a 145-150 internal temp when warm/hot smoking.
I also do a Cold Smoked version that is left to mature afterwards. Here you cold smoke (under 90f) for a couple of days worth of cold smoke. You don't have to smoke it continuous, you can do blocks of cold smoking (say 4-6 12 hour long smoking sessions). After you start your first smoke you don't want to put it back in the fridge...you'll put it in the maturing room in between the smoking sessions. After the smoking is done it will be time to place it in the maturing room. Winter time works out good as I can usually find a spot that's cool and dry (45f). Now let it hang and mature for 7, 14, etc days. You end up with an old world bacon product that's got a lovely intense flavor. It is like bacon with prosciutto tendencies.
When looking to get a Maple flavor on bacon, or in bbq rubs, I've found that
Maple Sugar works really nice. Putting it on after the cure and before the rest it gives a wonderful maple flavor. It seems to get more flavor into the bacon when I tried it this way.
Granulated Honey is another nice product that can be used in rubs or as a topping.