Im pretty basic with mine, been cooking and eating them the same way my momma and gramma made them so its how I like mine naturally. My wife will do them in the crock pot and I will eat them but theyre not my fave, and she uses ham chunks because her mom does them that way but I dont like them much that way, tastes weird and the soup is too thin for me. An ex FIL used to add a whole onion to his pot of beans. To each their own they say, we all like different things. In the past Ive soaked the beans the night before or boiled them an hour or so and then soaked them a few hours, etc, and it does help with the gas. Usually I dont go to all that trouble tho. I just clean a bag of brown beans in a colander, put em in my grammas old bean pot with water and bring to a boil, at boiling I add my salt pork or smoked ham hocks then simmer 2-2 1/2 hours adding water if needed. I dont add salt until the last 30 minutes or so, and then just to taste, and then theyre done when tender and the soup is thicker. I dont put pepper in mine either while its cooking, I leave that to those who like it at the table, same as with anything else like hot peppers, onions, garlic, whatever. I just found it easier to make them simple and basic and then let those eating them with me dress them up the way they like them later. The last 30 minutes I will whoop out a pan of fried potatoes and a pan of cornbread and we're eating good. All starched up but good eatins. My kids go crazy for them like we did when we were kids. At the table I like stuff like bread and butter pickles, pickle relish, corn relish, hot chowchow if I have some (its not like my grammas hot chow chow tho, cause shes dead...) along with some fresh cut white, green or purple onions, and fresh or canned hot peppers if I feel like it.
I hear ya ... good thing he's got other "talents" ... 
