smoking material

[seaninis]

good afternoon.. ive tried many things except the kitchen sink... what is the best smoking material i can use gents.. i have noticed that Thornes sell pellets but not sure if that is the best to purchase. Comments welcome. Sean

 

[Poly Hive]

Well rotted dry wood and there are a lot of ladies on here laddie...lol

PH

 

[seaninis]

i will be tactful on any helpful advice gents... hope it burns well !!! Sean

 

[bontbee]

speaking as a gent...rotten wood, rotten to the point where you can break it with your hands, is what I have always used. Out of interest I have tried the following, aswell:

• wood shavings, too tarry.
• thornes pellets, too hot, (you will see the recommendation to stuff the top of the smoker with grass if anything burns too hot, but as you can imagine, the grass doesn't stay cool for long).
• egg boxes, too stinky and I'm never sure what they might have been treated with.
• hessian, too hot and doesn't stay in long enough.
• hay, plenty of cool smoke, but doesn't stay in long enough.

Never tried dried orange, grapefruit or any other peelings
Never tried herbs etc

There will be lots of other things to try, and I'm sure someone will be along soon to add to the above. I am sure that the bee farmers assocn had a list on there website, (or I may have dreamt that), and there is also a list in Clive de Bruyn's book.

 

[BeeJayBee]

... what is the best smoking material i can use ...

Anything that's burnable and free.

Pine cones can be tarry, ditto pine needles.
Horse/donkey droppings work, when properly dried out.
Chopped up prunings from herbs and non-poisonous shrubs - don't ever use Laurel
Bits of rotten birch
Cardboard egg cartons, torn up and pushed into the smoker
toilet roll tubes, squashed together with wood shavings, pet bedding, cat litter pellets around them - but pine makes a lot of tar
Chopped hemp or other fodder

Top the smoker a bunch of fresh grass to cool the smoke slightly, keep the grass to use to light the smoker next time.

 

[Vortex]

Rotten wood (as advised above to the point you cna break it apart with your hands).. pine whilst tarry I can get without issue .. willow punk (the correct name for wood in this state) is apparently the best.
If you can get pine logs .. it takes 5 to 6 years to decompose to a usable rotten state.

 

[Martin Bee]

good afternoon.. ive tried many things except the kitchen sink... what is the best smoking material i can use gents.. i have noticed that Thornes sell pellets but not sure if that is the best to purchase. Comments welcome. Sean

I posted this before.Following a visit from a Canadian beek I now use the dried flower/seed heads of the Stag-horn Sumach (Rhus typhina) which are still on the bush from last year. They keep smoking well as the seed has an oil content.

 

[sugarbush]

I like old burlap coffee bags. They are free from the local coffee roaster and light well, burn well and make lots of smoke.

Everything else I find to be either too much work to light and keep lit or inferior.

 

[Goran]

When I place one piece of tinder bracket into smoker it last more than hour, never measure time itself. I just light it, place it and forget about..

 

[user 3509]

Old dried teabags.

 

[For want of a better word]

Old dried teabags.

Now there is an idea!
Thanks Val

Yeghes da

 

[YorkshireBees]

I use wood shavings (bought in bulk from pet suppliers) although tarry they light easily and stay alight a long time.

I have only lit my smoker once so far this season instead I use a water mist spray and find it less disturbing to the bees and myself!

 

[Briarfield]

The shredded cardboard that T***ne's use in packaging topped with grass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Levitt53]

I'm fairly new to this but I find grass works well once I've got a bit of newspaper and a toilet roll tube alight underneath. We have a big garden so lots of grass and it's very easy to add more if you need it. Although I might try the old tea bag idea.

 

[madasafish]

I am burning my way through a rotten 100 year old willow tree. At current usage rates, it will last longer than my lifespan - unless I set a new world record for the oldest man

 

[deanrpwaacs]

Oak bark is fine for me and i smell great after using it . Keeps the misses away anyhow .

 

[nantmoel]

I use wood shavings, normally from my planner.

 

[Brigsy]

Old dried teabags.

Seriously? I may try his as I like me tea!

 

[Alabamaeee]

Rotted wood is what I have found best, however some of the bee inspectors now use wood pellets - the type used in central heating boliers.

Seems to work well but I would still rather have the natural rottted wood as we don't know what chemicals are present in the processed pellets.

Another reason why I have never used corrugated cardboard - bound to be chemicals in it too.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Seems to work well but I would still rather have the natural rottted wood as we don't know what chemicals are present in the processed pellets.

Another reason why I have never used corrugated cardboard - bound to be chemicals in it too.

There are harmful chemicals in natural wood as well.......

Aldehydes found in wood smoke include formaldehyde, acrolein, propionaldehyde, butryaldehyde, acetaldehyde and furfural. Alkyl benzenes found in wood smoke include toluene. Oxygenated monoaromatics include guaiacol, phenol, syringol and catechol. Numerous PAHs or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are found in smoke.

Wood smoke contains fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide and various irritant gases such as nitrogen oxides that can scar the lungs. Wood smoke also contains chemicals known or suspected to be carcinogens, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dioxin.

http://chemistry.about.com/od/firecombustionchemistry/a/Smoke-Chemistry.htm