My Smoker life has changed

[jalentour]

First of all Hops, I'm sorry to post over top your idea, been meaning to post this a long time ago.

Went to purchase some Russian Nucs from a friend of mine in Alabama. 
He was smoking a Marlboro to keep the bees away, supposedly. 
We walked to the nucs I was picking up.  He said Joe, you've got to look at these nucs, their super!

He picked up his smoker and a handful of pine needles.
Lit up the pine needles with his lighter, got a good flame, and stuffed them in the smoker.  Puffed a few times and stuffed more needles in the smoker. 

That smoker ran for an hour.  Just normal usage , we went thru 15 nucs.  Of course they were insane nucs.

I went back to Ohio/Indiana and purchased a bale of pine straw to use in my smoker.  I carry a Lowes bucket full of the needles when I need to reload.  Best decision I ever made when it comes to the smoker.  Easy to lite, easy to maintain, easy to relight, easy.

My friends in the south will laugh and say we already knew this, but, us midwesterners (and a few of you Yankees) don't have ready access to pine needles. 

Keeping your smoker lit with pine needles is the way to go.  Forget, twigs, bark, cardboard, pellets.  Pine needles and done.  $10 a bale, and keep it dry. 

[A37]

What do the pine needles look like that your using?  I have pine trees in my yard and they are small needles, I'd rather use a pellet.  Is their a certain type of pine to look for?

[ILikeHoney]

I've been taught to use pine needles. However my experience with them is that I burn through it too quickly and I need to add bark or something thicker and less like a fuel to sustain the smoker for a decent duration.

[BeeMaster2]

The reason they go out so quickly is that you are not packing them down tight enough. My smoker will smoke for 4 to 5 hours depending on how much I am putting it. Light a small bunch, get them hot and then roll up a tight bunch and stuff it in slowly while puffing. Do this again until you cannot get any more in.
Jim

[paus]

Jim is right on.  If you have pecan hulls start the smoker with a good layer of pine straw add  a layer of hulls then pack the remaining space with pine straw this smokes longer than I want to work and it smells good.

[cao]

I do like sawdstmakr, fill smoker 1/3 to 1/2 full, light and get a good flame going.  After it's going good and has a core of red hot ashes, I roll the pine needles into a ball and insert into smoker.  Puff the smoker a few times to make sure it hasn't gone out.  Then add more balls of needles until smoker if packed full.  It should last for at least a couple hours.  When the smoke starts getting hot I just pack in some more needles.  You can go all day doing that.

jvalentour, I got about 15 pine trees on my property and my parents have about 3 acres of white pines about a mile down the road so I have an endless supply.  I rake them up each year when the drop them and fill a large trash can.  I put them in the shed and let them dry.  Lasts all year.  The key is to use fresh needles.  If they have been on the ground for a year, they don't burn as well in the smoker.

[Hops Brewster]

No apology needed or wanted JV.  Pine straw ain't my idea.  It makes a fine long burning easy lighting fuel and people have been using it for ages..
But!  I find pine straw smoke to be rather irritating to my sensitive lungs (Former smoker).

Quite by accident I found a fuel I much prefer, fruitwood chips.  I had trimmed an apple tree and chipped the branches, so I had a big pile of apple wood chips, so I naturally tried them in my smoker.  Voila!  a cool, pleasant smelling smoke that is not nearly as irritating to me as pine straw smoke.  A sick pear tree was the next to get chipped up.  Now I have a peach tree that I plan to replace.  If I ever run out of my own fruit tree trimmings, I know where to find lots of wild apples that have tons of dead limbs to be taken. 
Bonus;  I use these chips in my BBQ grill, too.

[sc-bee]

What do the pine needles look like that your using?  I have pine trees in my yard and they are small needles, I'd rather use a pellet.  Is their a certain type of pine to look for?

The Southern pine here is usually a type of loblolly pine. The long leaf pine needle tends to have more tar vs the short leaf IMHO. I literally have smoker fuel by the 1,000 of acres. The secret is to get a hot base before packing. After a hot base pack tightly for long lasting smoke. Here is a video from Troy at Bee Bayou

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgZnDUZcECI

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Hops, exactly what I use: apple wood, specifically, Apple wood pellets for BBQ.  Kinda pricey, but worth it.  No need for me to go into details, you explain well.
Blessings