Hi Folks,
The use of a smoker is a BIG deal to me and a few other ?mentors? in our club.
At our Bee School we demonstrate what to use, how to light, and how to maintain a lit smoker. We devoted two classes to it this year. We emphasise tinder and a good base fire before adding fuel. One demo used burlap and cotton rags. Another guy used newspaper as tinder and pine needles and ?stuff he picked up? as fuel. We all explain about ?green grass? if your smoke is too hot. Another guy used pine curls (plane shavings off a pine board) or small pine cones as tinder, and cedar or pine pet bed shavings bought at Walmart as fuel. Most students are suburbians, and don?t have the where-with-all to gather pine needles and ?stuff?. They can buy a bale of pet bedding, enough for several years (I do agree with 15 about the fine dusty bits). After two hours of unattended smoldering, both smokers had to be dumped out and extinguished to leave for home. I like the cedar. Bees don?t seem to mind it. Smells good to me.
I now tell ?mentees? to light their smoker a half hour before I?m due there. I?ve been disappointed when I pull up to a newbee?s house and they greet me with all their gear,? and an empty smoker. Or sometimes they?re knelt down smiling at me while gathering trash and grass off the ground. Now, I carry my own tinder and fuel with me. After me spending time lighting their smoker, and when we?re about halfway through the inspection,? the smoker is finally ready.
I recently posted to our club FB page: It takes only one carless match to start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box of matches and two butane lighters to light one smoker. Many related.
BTW!!! My smoker lid is a pain to open after it cools. I've scraped, wire brushed and burned that black "tar" around the lip and it's still a pain. Plumber's torch? It must be those resins from the cedar.
Sal