With smoking, then canning, salmon the idea is to not pull too much moisture out of the fish.
You are on the right track realizing liquid smoke is schit...
After brining (90 minutes in ice cold brine made with 1 cup non-iodized salt and 2 cups brown sugar per gallon) rinse quickly in cold water and place on racks to form the pellicle. When that is done smoke on the lowest possible heat for no more than two hours and possibly just an hour.
If you want to get crazy weigh a piece form the middle of the rack of average size. When it has lost 5% of its weight or slightly more, pull the fish from the smoker and put in jars. I have gone to retort bags which are exactly like MRE bags and vacuum sealed, but jars are fine...
Proceed like you know how to from everything else you have canned. It is pretty easy at that point.
The smoking is for flavor and to drag a little moisture from the fish. It will get ALL the way through the fish in the canning process.
