Maybe The Best Smoker Fuel? All Opinions Welcome

[Jim134]

"Punky wood"?

       Where I lived in central New England... You could go into the forest and find many trees that were blown over... Or trees with a top broken off... And the top slam on the ground... I used to  Find a lot of Maple , Birch and Cherry trees.. I never tried softwood.. Like Pine, Hemlock or Spruce trees.. When the  The wood is about half the 3/4 rotten.. This is "punky" wood.. All I used was a small hatchet and a 5 gallon pail... You also can use old stumps of trees.. And also pick up some pine straw.. From either Red Pine or White Pine


                 BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[Jim134]

I've tried about everything and nothing works as good as burlap.

     Yes I use burlap back in my fifties... For my smoker... Sometime around the Early sixties.. The feed company started putting poison in a burlap.. So it would kill rodents... I personally never used a burlap again... I can buy organic burlap bags .. From a coffee company... At $5 per bag... No thank you I will stick with the "punky" wood.

[Bill Murray]

Now all the feed bags we get are  polypropylene. wonder how that would work?

[The15thMember]

Now all the feed bags we get are  polypropylene. wonder how that would work?

My guess is they would melt, and probably stink. 

[BeeMaster2]

Now all the feed bags we get are  polypropylene. wonder how that would work?

My guess is they would melt, and probably stink. 

And give off toxic smoke.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

Hi Folks,

An interesting topic. I have used burlap (we call hessian in Australia) It works quite well and gives off a cool smoke. It?s getting harder to find these days and I?m not confident to use it anyway due to possible chemical contamination. Straw and dried grass works quite well at a pinch if you only want to make a quick hive inspection. Pine needles work well but gum up the smoker and don?t last as long as burlap (or corrugated cardboard) I won?t use correlated cardboard in my area as much of this material is manufactured overseas and contains chemical treatments. My personal favourite is the bark from the local white stringy bark tree.



The outer bark comes off in long strips. The poor tree in the photo is regularly harvested as its bark dries.
The bark is twisted and rolled around in your hands until it breaks up into fine fibres (a bit like coconut fibre) It burns with a cool smoke and lasts for ages.



I am just about to light the smoker and extract some honey. The smoker will still be burning this afternoon when I return the stickies to the hives.

Cheers

Les

[Bill Murray]

That looks just like the bark off the red ceder. Im going out now to strip some and try it.
Thanks les

[Ben Framed]

I've tried about everything and nothing works as good as burlap.

     Yes I use burlap back in my fifties... For my smoker... Sometime around the Early sixties.. The feed company started putting poison in a burlap.. So it would kill rodents... I personally never used a burlap again... I can buy organic burlap bags .. From a coffee company... At $5 per bag... No thank you I will stick with the "punky" wood.

Thanks Jim 134! I did not realize the situation with the treated burlap. Thanks for the information!

Phillip

[rast]

Due to an over abundance, I use crushed pine straw and red cedar straw out of the street, It's crushed, dried and burns well. Yes it gums up the smoker, but not as fast as the uncrushed pine needles in my bee yard. A few minutes with a propane torch cleans my smokers right up.

[Michael Bush]

Everything gums up the smoker...  Nothing a torch can't fix...

[Ben Framed]

Everything gums up the smoker...  Nothing a torch can't fix...

True, a torch will fix a gummed up smoker pronto.

[Bob Wilson]

Apparently I need to get one. My pinestraw fuel (abundant and free in my yard) has gummed up my smoker for years. I finally figured out how to use my hive tool and the top of the bellows to leverage/pry off the top.

[William Bagwell]

Apparently I need to get one.

Spend the ten extra bucks on the self lighting model!

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

I tried burlap today. I've had "organic fair trade" bags for a while now. I got them and coffee bean chaff that I use as mulch from a local roaster.

It took more burlap than I expected to fill my smoker, rolled like a cigar. I originally tied it with baler twine, but realized that must be treated, so I ripped a swatch and threads of burlap to tie the roll.

It lit very well. I held the wad outside of the can and lit it there. It lit fast, one match. I stuffed it in, puffed, puffed, tamped it down and puffed some more on the way to the hives. Nice thick cool smoke, not as aromatic as I'd have liked, but ok.

I puff around the hive, set up my wagon, puff another time or two, and set it down where the smoke wafts toward the hive. Just four hives this year. I had to see the queens today.

It actually lasted a lot longer than I expected more than three hours and I stopped watching. Nothing but a soft, fluffy wad of burlap ash left.

It took longer to cut, rip, wrap, cut more, wrap more, tie and light than with my shavings. Still, it was good.

Sal

[Bill Murray]

well the cedar bark had a nice aroma, lit well, but burnt up to quick. Wondering about HEMP.

[salvo]

Hi Bill,

Don't Bogart that smoker my friend......

..... Pass it over to me.....

Sal

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

It was either here or in the What did you do in the Bee Yard?

Too cold here to do anything with the hives, BUT:

I have to demonstrate smokers later today. I have two stainless smokers, a Dadant, pin hinged, and a bigger Adunno brand with a cage and a "fruit-loop" hinge. Both were pretty gunky, pita to close up. I have to make a good impression.

There have been stories and jokes about how to clean this gunk off. Scrape, plumber's torches, wire brush....

I had the cellar stove fired up last night. I unhinged my smoker tops and tossed them in the fire for a few hours. They came out with a beautiful blue patina, clean as a whistle. Brush the ash away and they look great.

In the demo I'm going to use wood chip bedding (Walmart) in one, and pine needles in the other; Tinder will be small wood scraps from the shop for the chips, and pinecones and twigs for the needles. I'm going to bring a swatch of burlap just to show. Get newbees started off on the right foot with smokers.

Sal

[Ben Framed]

Thanks for sharing this Sal. I am happy to see you chose to share this information on this topic,  as the other topic covers a 'variety of subjects' and might have been lost 'within' that topic for future reference.

Phillip

[paus]

The best smelling smoker fuel I have used is pecan hulls.  They smell good and burn forever.  If they are crushed small so you get a smoker full they can burn as long as I want to take to do a cutout.  Another fuel I like as an addition to pine needles or pecan hulls as the main fuel, I like to add dried coffee grounds usually two or three hand full scattered thro0ugh the pine needles, it seems to make protective bees more hospitable.  FYI pecans are a very tasty nut that is native to mostly the eastern US.  If you have a business that shells pecans you can get all the hulls you want free.

[NCNate]

I use regular straw. A bale will last me a couple years so very cheap. It lasts good in the smoker also if its packed tight. I spent 4 hours working hives the other day and only had to fill it back up twice before it went out.

My Grandpa used to use denim scraps. He'd light a corner and blow it out. It would smoke for a good while.