Dave,
That's just my point. Personally I prefer pastrami to corned beef. The OP seems to think he needs to smoke a corned beef to get corned beef. We know this is not the case, that if the piece of meat (beef) is corned then the process for corned beef is complete. It does not need to be smoked, it would then become another animal entirely.
For the OP--just buy a corned beef (prepackaged), soak as Dave said, cook as per directions, add cabbage and boiled potatoes, Guinness, and enjoy the day.
Just as an FYI, corned beef and cabbage is not really an Irish thing. My folks were from Ireland and didn't know about corned beef under coming here. Beef in Ireland was too expensive and limited for consumption by the general populace. Beef was in a dairy cow and that was cared for, not consumed. Meat in Ireland was generally pig or sheep.