What's the best thing to burn in smoker?

[REDWOOD]

The most natural and free source of fuel you can use is rotted wood, take a walk in the woods and it will take you about five minutes to collect enough for the following year, only pick up the wood that crumbles easily in your hands. Dry it in your shed or green house.
Beware of cardboard and hessian sacks as they can contain fire retardants and or rat poisons, and probably a lot more chemicals i don't know about.

 

[bontbee]

it turned out that they had the trivit on the top of the fuel, and without the air gap under the fuel the smoker just could not breath, as I said maybe just a bit daft,

Similarly, I met a new beek at a show who was at the end of their tether trying to keep the smoker lit. After discussing a range of possibilities, they asked if their smoker should have "one of those thingies" in the bottom. They'd bought a second hand smoker that came complete without trivet. Something so simple nearly caused them to give up. (Yeah, I know, courses and all that though, to be fair, they did go away to look up the first available training course in their patch).

......Also tar and grass can block the smoker entrance up which makes it keep going out.

Or dropping the smoker (as I'm afraid I frequently do. Doh....). Every time it seems to land spout first, and the spout gets bunged with soil. It's amazing how hard it has to be poked with a pen/twig/skewer to clear the hole.