Smoker that smoked 8 hours.

[Hops Brewster]

Van, I have a big yellow pine in my front yard, so for a couple years I used pine straw and/or cones.  It smoke pretty well, but burned hot, and the pine smoke was very irritating to me. A couple years ago I did some trimming on my apple tree and my flowering plum, and when the El Cheapo Harbor Freight chipper was done with the small branches it left a pile of chips about 3/8 - 1/2  inches apiece.   One day I decided to give those fruitwood chips a try, and I was impressed with the results.  It's a little hard to get started, but once gi=oing it is a sweet, pleasant smoke that I don't mind working with.  Burns a long time, too.

I was just gifted a smoker grill and I bought some applewood pellets.  I'm going to try your top down method on both the pellets and my homemade chips.  I also don't see any reason why those chips wouldn't work in the smoker mixed in with the pellets.

[van from Arkansas]

Hops, should work just fine, chips and pellets.  I wished I had the apple trees on my property to trim, but not really cold enough in Arkansas for good apples.

The Apple wood does not burn my eyes as other types of fuel.  Hops, as you already know, Apple is a sweet smoke that is pleasant to work with and great for creating smoked meats.
All Good Things
Van

[Nock]

I like apple as well. Use a lot of cherry when smoking meat as well

[The15thMember]

My family has really gotten into smoking meat the past couple of years.  We North Carolinians love our pulled pork!     We like to use half hickory and half apple wood for our pork.  I'm telling you, that is some of the best meat on the planet!   

[paus]

In a post May 31 2019 I posted that I use coffee grounds to calm mean bees.  Mann Lake has "High Octane Coffee Chaff Smoker Fuel".  for $11.50 for two pounds. Their promotion says much of what I think, although not proven I think coffee grounds does a better job than Pine Tree needles in calming bees. I use needles to start and mix Pecan hulls and coffee together and it smells GOOD.
I also use pecan hulls to smoke meat.

[max2]

In a post May 31 2019 I posted that I use coffee grounds to calm mean bees.  Mann Lake has "High Octane Coffee Chaff Smoker Fuel".  for $11.50 for two pounds. Their promotion says much of what I think, although not proven I think coffee grounds does a better job than Pine Tree needles in calming bees. I use needles to start and mix Pecan hulls and coffee together and it smells GOOD.
I also use pecan hulls to smoke meat.

Thanks for the Pecan suggestion, Paus.
Our Pecan harvest is about to start in about a months time and we have mountains of hulls . I will keep some.

[AustinB]

I just pick up grass clippings after mowing and sit them out to dry and use that for fuel. It works very well, creates a cool white smoke, and burns for a long time.

That's my favorite fuel as well, works very well