# What do you use for smoker fuel? Any tips on keeping it lit?



## theriverhawk (Jun 5, 2009)

I use a bale of pine straw and a bag of pine bark chunks that I get at Home Depot. I light the pine straw and get it going pretty well. Then I stuff the bark chunks on top pretty full. A few more puffs to get it smoking good and it almost never goes out. Costs me a total of $6 for an entire spring and summer.


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## Yucca Patrol (Mar 31, 2012)

I use pine needles. They are commonly sold in bales here in the South as mulch at garden centers, but I'm not sure if they are just a regional thing as I believe they are a byproduct of the paper making industry. I actually got my supply for free this year, as the trailer was empty when I went to get some. I explained what i was doing with the needles and the manager allowed me to collect a big garbage bag full of needles that were covering the trailer floor about a foot high.

BTW, I grew up in Laramie. I bet the sagebrush makes for some tasty honey out there.


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## strider (Apr 12, 2012)

Another one that uses dry pine needles, I have a unlimited supply. Light it and put a wad of cotton fiber on top. Goes until it is burned up.


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## DLMKA (Feb 7, 2012)

I start with a piece of newspaper then start adding pine shavings we use for chicken bedding.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Pine straw here, too. Freebie for me as I have a pine forest behind the bee yard.  I rake up small branches, small pine cones, etc.,....makes a nice mix. I try to roll a handful into a flat circle, light it and stick it it the smoker for a thought while it flames up. Then I push it on down into the bottom...puff it good until it flames up good again and then begin adding more and more and more, puffing as I go to be sure it's still lit good as I pack it down...finish packing it to the top and add a wad of green grass to keep embers from blowing out easily. Every now and then while I'm working and the smoker is sitting there idling and the smoke seems a little "light", I will pump the bellows a few times just to warm it up a bit.

I think I'm going to revisit dried grass from mowing the yard (live in a bahia pasture). The last time I used it it smoldered *really* well...but that's another story. 

Ed


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

At my yard the property owner put a decent pile of what looks like wood that went through a grinder. It's right by my hives so I suspect it's for my smoker. I start with newspaper and then pine needles, then when that's going good I put in a handful at a time, get them going and repeat another 1-3 depending on how much work I have. Works great, no trouble at all now with smoker. I wouldn't know where to buy something like that, maybe a city yard waste area. Works better than the pellets I bought last year.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

Pine straw and rotten wood works well, but I'm all over using burlap right now. It works great. There's a coffee roaster near here, and a friend gave me a pile of sacks from there. I get the smoker started with a bit of paper pulp egg carton, and then add a piece of brlap about the size of my hand. (I pre-cut the burlap into pieces). Once I've got a wad of the burlap in flames and burning nicely, I pack the smoker tight with more and lock 'er up. Burns forever - nice and cool, thick, white smoke


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## bhambees (May 16, 2012)

This is what I do - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwEnri6lNNI


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## flyingbrass (Jul 2, 2011)

bhambees said:


> This is what I do - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwEnri6lNNI


Beat me to it. Watch the Fatbeeman on Youtube!!!


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

Put a piece of burr comb on top of the fuel in the smoker, makes it burn for a long time. I use pine needles and rotten wood.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I need a smoker fuel that is slower burning. keeping the smoker going is not my problem. it burning up all the shredded paper in less time than it takes to inspect a deep and a half is the problem. I tried a pine shaving and shredded paper mix but it still burns to fast. I don't have a typical smoker. it is very small. and I mean small, your coffee mug is probably bigger. So any suggestions for a longer lasting fuel? I would like to try wood pellets but they are not available this time of year.


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

Try pine bark or rotted wood from the ground [after you dry it]. Lasts pretty well, or buy a decent smoker


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

westernbeekeeper said:


> Hello all,
> I am wondering what works the best for everyone for smoker fuel. I manage quite a few hives of the worlds meanest Russian bees, so I need a well lit smoker on hand all the time. I have tried Kwikstart smoker pellets from Mann Lake; they produce great smoke, but they don't stay lit very long. I am having a pretty hard time with anything else, except for shredded paper, but I'm totally out of that now. So please post your suggestions for fuel here and also your tips for keeping your smoker going well. Also please list where you purchase the fuel. Thanks in advance!


The "trick" to any smoker is to start w/ the right amount of kindling and fire and then the bulk of the fuel. With the pellets, I would recommend you find some burlap or canvas to act as a sort of gasket between the initial fire and the pellets.

Crumple up newspaper, place it in the bottom of the smoker, set a match to it. Put another ball of newspapoer on top of that. Lay in a layer of burlap and fill the rest of the cavity w/ wood pellets. All the time you are doing this you will need to pump the bellows to keep the fire going.

I use bailing twine. Fortunately I live in an area which still has dairy farms which put up hay in square bails bound w/ twine. The nonplastic kind. Don't use plastic bailing twine.

I cut up a length of twine and shred the pieces to use as kindling for the ball of twine I will put in on top of the fire. I place the shredded twine in the smoker and light it w/ a match. Then a ball of twine is stuffed in on top of the fire, pumping the bellows to keep the fire going hot enuf to ignite the ball of twine.

I have friends who use burlap. When working w/ them I stuff burlap in on top of my bailing twine. Otherwise, I find it hard to keep lit. Especially between yards.

When in South Carolina I often use pine straw. One has to be careful about a really hot fire. It will spit fire, which can be hard on your bees and dangerous for you too.

If you ever see someone wearing shorts and you see what looks like burns on the insides of both legs above or near the knees, you can be pretty sure they are a beekeeper.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Daniel Y said:


> I mean small, your coffee mug is probably bigger. So any suggestions for a longer lasting fuel?


What kind of smoker is that Daniel? Where did you get it? It'snot one of those pipe type smokers, is it? What kind of fuel was recommended for use in it?


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## SantaFeBeek (Jun 13, 2012)

Old dried horse manure works well. Start it with some paper or straw to get it going and it smolders really well!

I've actually been using the Dadant cotton fiber stuff b/c I purchased a bunch my first year and still have it, but I'll move on to horse manure after that. We used it in my intro class several years ago and it works great and is free.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Mark, Yes it is one of the pipe smokers. One I think I am supposed to damper it down but have not yet got the hang of that. So my fuel burns to fast. From the video it looks like they use local dried weeds and grasses. Our local grasses are very thin dessert grass that burns if you look at it wrong. Not a good lasting fuel. I am now suspecting that fuel choice is fairly important with these smokers. Otherwise they are amazingly simple to use. the light very easy. In fact stopping mid inspection is about a two minute ordeal to reload and relight. I am pretty sure something like wood pieces will give me much more smoking time.


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## Nature Coast beek (Jun 10, 2012)

Dry pine needles and shredded bills (yes, after payment ). Light the wad of shredded paper and get a good flame, pack in bottom of smoker and pump to roaring blaze. I let that burn a little as I'm getting pine needles in hand (I don't buy, plenty of pines around house), needles going in same direction, then fold them back into an oblong packet and pack onto top of fire in smoker. Pump until some flame. Pack with more needles, pump. Pack more...pump. Pack, pump like 2 -3 more times, smoke is nice white and cool at this stage. Top off needles and make sure they're packed, close lid and pump a couple more times. Ready to go. I have the large Dadant smoker and loading like this it will easily stay lit and keep smoking for easily two hours, that's including my excessive smoking of the hive. Usually I just set it on a walkway paver to let it smolder out after working. When I go back and pop the lid to make sure there are no more embers, I usually see about a quarter of the needle load still in there, toasted and ready for the next inspection. For me, the key is the initial flame...it must be hot and big because you're about to starve it of air so you need hot embers at the base that will flare up again after being teased again with the bellows. That's what works for me.


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## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

Mann Lakes sells wood pellets. They work well. I start the fire with a small amount of cotton, also from Mann Lakes, and put a handful or two of wood pellets on top of the fire. It really puts out a lot of smoke and a small amount will burn for a couple of hours. I don't have to smoke much, as my Italian girls are pretty nice. It seems a lot of people report the Russians to be hot. I guess those commies won't give up on the cold war, or maybe I should say the "hot" war.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Cotton rags and cardboard. Cut some cardboard without tape or lots of printing, lay a cotton rag on it, and roll it up to drop into the smoker. Light the and get it burning, stuff it in, puff once or twice, then drop the lid. Should smoke for half an hour or so with a small piece, longer if you roll it tight.

My grandpa used cotton rags -- they don't tend to burn with much of a flame and a smoker lightly packed with them should smoke for a long time. 

I find I don't use much smoke on two hives, so it's not a problem for me if it doesn't stay lit for an hour, but if you have a large yard, some wood chips or pellet fuel would work well.

Main thing to do is make sure you don't pack too much stuff in there too tight before it's burning well, otherwise you just smother the fire and end up with no smoke when you need it most.

Peter


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## jamneff (Mar 5, 2012)

I use a piece of newspaper balled up with small sticks on top, light the paper and once the sticks are burning I continue to add more sticks till I have a good fire going. I then let it burn down till just hot coals are left then I use pine shavings from walmart pet dept. hamster bedding. I just fill it up to the top and if I need to I add more.


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

Charcoal brickets in the bottom of the smoker with pine needles stuffed in on top. As the smoker keeps burning I pack more pine needles in on top. As long as the brickets keep burning I can keep stuffing pine needles in the smoker and get good smoke all day long.


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## Luke (Sep 8, 2003)

I cut cardboard boxes into 5 inch wide strips then roll them up until it fits snug in the smoker and hold it together with a couple pieces of masking tape. You have to cut it the right way so when it is in the smoker the - I don't know what to call them - ridges inside the cardboard are facing up to allow air to flow through it.


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## Rob73 (Apr 19, 2009)

Pine needles. Lights up like its got lighter fluid on it. I have some pine trees here on the property and I rake up a few buckets full every year. If it starts going down, you just shove in another big wad of needles and it smokes white and heavy like an old freight train.

Rob


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Beeboy01 said:


> Charcoal brickets in the bottom of the smoker with pine needles stuffed in on top. As the smoker keeps burning I pack more pine needles in on top. As long as the brickets keep burning I can keep stuffing pine needles in the smoker and get good smoke all day long.


Do you light the brickets w/ a torch? Interesting idea. Never heard it before.


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## Sour Kraut (Jun 17, 2012)

put one 'match-light' charcoal briquet in the bottom of the smoker

then (ahead of time) saw off the ends of some old oil filters, take out the oil-soaked cardboard filter media, and hang it up to 'weather' for a week or so (and the excess oil to drip off )

once it's 'weathered', store it in an old paint can to keep it from absorbing moisture

once you use this you will wonder why you ever had problems before

(hat tip: Walter Kelley)


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Luke, Just F.Y.I the ridges are called Corrugations. 
One fuel I have heard mentioned before are the stalks of tobacco. But the comments concerning it where varied. Surprising I know. But some actually said tobacco was toxic to bees.
Since i grow my own tobacco I should end up with a lot of stems and stalks, Although it may be correct that tobacco smoke is toxic to bees I would think that any smoke is toxic to some degree. I can't imagine that any tobacco smoke could be worse for them than chemical doused charcoal. I would appreciate any thoughts on the subject.
From an earlier conversation one person had mentioned that dried tobacco stalks where the traditional smoker fuel in Germany at one time.

Tobacco does have some chemicals that survive the burning process such as the obvious nicotine. Btu then chemical survive from nearly any material this is burn and most of those are far more toxic than nicotine. The first clue would be that it is not common to smoke charcoal, cotton rags, pine needles or cardboard. Yet obviously no one is concerned much with any of these items being overly toxic. Tobacco smoke is mild enough that people draw it into their lungs. try that with any of those other items. So I am a bit mixed on my thoughts in comparison with the comments. So far I am thinking the comments against tobacco has more to do with the social hype about how bad smoking is for you than any sort of accurate information.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Gary L. Glaenzer said:


> put one 'match-light' charcoal briquet in the bottom of the smoker
> 
> then (ahead of time) saw off the ends of some old oil filters, take out the oil-soaked cardboard filter media, and hang it up to 'weather' for a week or so (and the excess oil to drip off )
> 
> ...


Hmmm. Is anyone else thinking PCBs here? Or just me?


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## blueskydixon (Jul 9, 2011)

I also use pine needles. Same comments as above posts. I heard from another beekeeper that he uses dried sumac blooms. I forgot to pick them last fall to hang/dry over the winter, so I can't vouch for it, just suggest it. Can anyone else comment on sumac?

I also read somewhere to open your smoker lid so it does not stick. The unburned remains make a great kindle for the next lighting.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Daniel Y said:


> From an earlier conversation one person had mentioned that dried tobacco stalks where the traditional smoker fuel in Germany at one time.


Dave Cushman has a page on various smoker fuels, and it includes tobacco:

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/smofuel.html


> *Coarse Tobacco*
> This by product from the tobacco industry consists of leaf stalks, thick leaf veins and tatty bits of tobacco leaf that have been rejected for use as recreational smoking materials.
> 
> This form of tobacco is most commonly found on mainland Europe, in use for bee smoker fuel. I believe that it is also one of the materials that are used in the German mouth powered "Imker Pfeife" type of smoker. I have not used this material myself, but I used to sell it when I was in business... It was a slow, but steady selling item.


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## DBF (Jul 17, 2011)

blueskydixon said:


> I also use pine needles. Same comments as above posts. I heard from another beekeeper that he uses dried sumac blooms. I forgot to pick them last fall to hang/dry over the winter, so I can't vouch for it, just suggest it. Can anyone else comment on sumac?
> 
> I also read somewhere to open your smoker lid so it does not stick. The unburned remains make a great kindle for the next lighting.


sumac is poison in this country it is called dead mans oatmeal


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

I've heard about using dried sumac tops for smoker fuel but have never tried it. The brickets I use are the cheepo type which I light with a propane torch before dropping them in the smoker. I was using pine cutoffs from my woodshop but couldn't keep them lit for any length of time so I started using pine needles. There are a whole lot of pine trees around my property and I'll pick up any broken limbs after storms and hang them on the bee yard fence to dry. Once dried the pine needles get pulled off and stored in a bucket. There is one bee keeper in the local club who has made a jig which he uses to bundle pine needles into the cutest little packs which just fit in a smoker. He ties the packs together with string and keeps them ready to go in a bucket. It seems like a little bit too much like work making the bundles but he says it works great for smoker fuel.


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## muskratcreekhoney (Mar 30, 2010)

Stuff the smoker full of pine needles, wood bedding, etc., then light the lower side with a propane torch. Get it glowing hot! Since I switched to this method I haven't had it go out on me yet, and it's fast.


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## cg3 (Jan 16, 2011)

Cardboard in the bottom as mentioned above. Light with torch, let burn for a minute. Fill with cotton rags. Quick and easy.


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## blueskydixon (Jul 9, 2011)

DBF, 

There is a difference between poison sumac and sumac trees. I thought it was obvious by the omission of the word poisonous which one I meant.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> Dave Cushman has a page on various smoker fuels, and it includes tobacco:
> 
> http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/smofuel.html


Thanks for that info. Looks like I won't have much of a fuel issue next spring anyway.

I also notices you can smoke yoru bees with "HERB" Man!!!
Whooooah! forget the tobacco.
My friend calling me in about a week: "So how are the bees doing?"
Me: "ah man the entire colony got completely wasted , then the snack wagon passed by and they absconded, Left me with a great smoker full of Herb though."... : "It's all good"


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Daniel Y said:


> <snip> So I am a bit mixed on my thoughts in comparison with the comments. So far I am thinking the comments against tobacco has more to do with the social hype about how bad smoking is for you than any sort of accurate information.


"Social hype"? I've got a couple in west Alabama that are very good friends and very good people. Last year about this time she was working out getting ready to go kayaking with her husband when she went to the doctor with a "sore shoulder". She smoked during her adult life. She was buried yesterday after a horrendous, year long battle with lung cancer during which she basically had a fourth of her chest/abdomen carved out like it was a water melon, chemo, more surgeries, and lived in constant pain the last year of her life. "Social hype"?...tell that to her husband and her son and daughter-in-law and those two precious grandkids that are oh so young to grasp the idea of this thing called death...tell them it's "social hype".

I certainly won't be using tobacco to smoke my bees, being as they won't live six weeks anyhow I don't think my pine straw will hurt them to much and there's definitely no danger of me intentionally inhaling the pine straw smoke...if you think about it, smoke off of a bbq grill has loads of chemcials in it but I'm not going to stand there and try to inhale it.

BTW, I smoked for 35 years and will have been smoke-free for six years in August.

Ed


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Tobacco smoke contains, along with a long list of known carcinogens, nicotine. Nicotine is a fairly effective insecticide, over-using it in a bee hive will result in significant bee death. 

Tobacco use causes cancer in most people, this isn't "social hype" it's demonstrated fact. Period. Leading cause of COPD, emphasema, and pulmonary fibrosis, too.

Eating arsenic is bad for you too. So is drinking a couple fifths of distilled spirits a day. What's different about smoking?

Peter


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## remmy (Jun 5, 2012)

I have found that twin from hay Bailie's works best and is very cost effective. I live near a farmer and struck a deal with them1# of honey for twien off hay bales. They just put it in a burlap bag and when they have 4 I pick it up.


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## SantaFeBeek (Jun 13, 2012)

sqkcrk said:


> Hmmm. Is anyone else thinking PCBs here? Or just me?


I'm thinking lots of toxic chemicals that are bad for the bees in "match-light" charcoal for sure. I'm thinking the same about lighting up corrugated carboard - lots of chemical glues and such in there. While all smoke is potentially harmful to the bees, I would think that natural materials that haven't been doused with chemicals by humans would be less harmful. 

Tobacco, although I wouldn't use it and depending on how many chemicals have been sprayed on it while growing, can't be any worse than match-light charcoal or cardboard. Now that I think about it, the cotton burr mix I've used from Dadant probably had tons of pesticides sprayed on it while growing. 

Stick with pine straw, twigs, manure, mulch, etc for the least harm to the bees. Cheap, too!


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## Sour Kraut (Jun 17, 2012)

>>put one 'match-light' charcoal briquet in the bottom of the smoker

>>then (ahead of time) saw off the ends of some old oil filters, take out the oil-soaked >>cardboard >>filter media, and hang it up to 'weather' for a week or so (and the excess oil to >>drip off )

>>once it's 'weathered', store it in an old paint can to keep it from absorbing moisture

>>once you use this you will wonder why you ever had problems before

>>(hat tip: Walter Kelley)

>Hmmm. Is anyone else thinking PCBs here? Or just me? 


How would there be PCB's in motor oil ?


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## SantaFeBeek (Jun 13, 2012)

Gary L. Glaenzer said:


> >>put one 'match-light' charcoal briquet in the bottom of the smoker
> 
> >>then (ahead of time) saw off the ends of some old oil filters, take out the oil-soaked >>cardboard >>filter media, and hang it up to 'weather' for a week or so (and the excess oil to >>drip off )
> 
> ...


There are a whole host of chemicals in motor oil that would definitely be harmful to bees, and any other living creature. Probably not PCBs, but plenty of heavy hydrocarbons and metals!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Gary L. Glaenzer said:


> How would there be PCB's in motor oil ?


Yeah, that didn't seem right when I wrote it. But then I didn't know what else to ask about. It just seemed like a bad idea. Worse than most others in my mind.


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## GLOCK (Dec 29, 2009)

I use dry grass/garlic/shoemac berrys/ and a little paper to get it going.
Took me year to learn how to keep the smoker lite.
I have the bigger of 2 you can get at MANN LAKE and it stays lite like for around 1 hour and a half before i have to repack it.
Buy a new smoker there cheap.


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## mgalimbe (May 8, 2012)

in my opinion the key to keeping a smoker going are the coals on the bottom, sometimes I start with twigs and get a good coal base with that or sometimes I use wood pellets from my pellet stove. either way the key is a good coal base. after you have that established I just collect pine needles and load it up and pack it tight. If I'm not going to use it for a bit, I take some green grass and plug the exit hole. when going to start it again, usually a half dozen puffs get it smoking again. I have 4 diffrent yards all about 3 miles apart so I light it at my home hive and plug it up in between yards and never have to relight it.

Good luck
Mike


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

What works well for me is lighting a crumpled up 1/2 sheet of newspaper, prime the smoker about a dozen times so it gets burning real hot. Add SOME pine needles, prime again about a dozen times, then PACK TIGHT with more pine needles. It may look like it goes out, but if you prime it just a couple of times you'll get all the smoke you need. I've had my small smoker last 30 minutes or longer.
Good luck.


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## schmism (Feb 7, 2009)

I use chips from my wood planer which is much like the compressed bail wood chips you can buy.

I take a strip of cardboard, roll it up. about 4-5" wide and 2 feet or more long. Rolled up it creates a tight dense cardboard roll. I light it on fire with a propane torch (click to light) set it down in the bottom let it unroll. Puff it hard to get it lit well, usually yellow flame out the top.

then i take a hand full of wood chips and stuff it down in. this baisly puts out the fire and makes it smolder. I puff hard to get it to re-lite with flame, and stuff a second or third handfull of chips on top of that. close the top and i have a smoker that will stay lit for a good hr+


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## Scottsman (May 1, 2011)

I'm no expert but this works for me and I don't have to buy anything, just pick it up. I'm in the East and the forest is lush here so these ingredients are easy to find. I Light paper balled up and place in the bottom, add dried pine cones and/or Sweet Gum Balls, dried hardwood leaves, mostly oak and maple, lastly an inch of green stuff, grass, clover, stripped leaves from an tree nearby, whatever to cool the smoke. The pine cones need to be tight, not the ones which have opened up. These ingredients are all natural and should be no more toxic that a forest fire.
The Sweet Gum balls burn really slow and hot as well and with less tar buildup in the smoker.


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## Corvair68 (May 10, 2011)

The best thing I have found so far is the red part of Staghorn Sumac trees. I start the smoker with a piece of paper and a but of cardboard, then stuff the smoker with the Sumac, and it will smoke for several hours with out a problem. If I run out of sumac then I use the pine needles.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I use old blue jeans mostly. They light easy and burn slow. They don't go out easily. I also like sumac seed heads. By the way, bigger smokers are easier to work with and keep lit than smaller ones.


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## beekeeperlady (Mar 25, 2009)

SantaFeBeek said:


> Old dried horse manure works well. Start it with some paper or straw to get it going and it smolders really well!


tried that.. smells horible lol..i like using old oak leaves. they smolder really well and since we are surrounded by huge old oaks.... i have an unlimited supply


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

With any fire, especially the fire in a bee smoker the tighter the fuel is packed the longer the fuel lasts and the cooler the smoke will be as it smolders or burns. Start thinking of your smoker as a 'SMOLDER' not a SMOKER. Smoke is a by product of the smoldering process. Remember, the tighter the fuel is packed the less room there is in your smoker for oxygen, thus the fuel smolders or burns, slower creating a cooler longer lasting smolder. :thumbsup:


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

After trying many types of fuel, I've settled on wood chips. I just buy a big bag of pet bedding either pine or cedar and it burns quite well (does make a fair bit of creosote). What I like is, it is always dry and available. If I'm in the bee-yard for a long time I add some larger pieces of wood.

While on the subject of smoker fuel, use a small PROPANE TORCH (My best friend...LOL)! They get the smoker going hot and are great if you want to disinfect a hive tool to reduce the spread of chalkbood etc! Forget matches and grill lighters-once you use the torch you will never go back.......LOL


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## Redhead (Apr 27, 2012)

Dryer lint works great.


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## jslo722 (Dec 20, 2009)

I use sawdust. I plug the bottom of a toilet paper tube with newspaper then pack in the sawdust. I start the smoker by lighting a few sheets of newspaper balled up. Once the newspaper is going good, I drop in two tubes of sawdust. Two tubes produce good smoke for about an hour.


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## Dan. NY (Apr 15, 2011)

I have an ample supply of used tea leaves I am thinking of trying on the next inspection. I cant imagine why it wont work. They are damp and should smoulder instead of outright burn. If not, Ill go collect pine needles and cones.


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## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

Well everyone,
I surely appreciate all the input!
I tried rolled cardboard like schmism suggested, and got excellent smoke for almost an hour; have to light it with a propane torch though. I will stick with that for now, but I also want give all these others a try too. Thanks alot, everyone!


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## cerezha (Oct 11, 2011)

I noticed that many of you used pine needles. I am from Russia and witness (never had bees in Russia) Russian-style beekeeping. They do not use any part of the pine (sap) in the smoker. They normally used decomposed wood (from the forest) but not pine. They do not use leaves, only decomposed wood. Smoke from pine's sap considered to be bad for bees.

Here, in US, when I start my bees I noticed that bees are very sensitive to the "quality" of smoke. My survival bees hated pine needle smoke, which I used at that time. They turn crazy (aggressive) from it! Once I banned the pine needles from my "smoke ****tail" - bees are much less aggressive now. Nevertheless, they hated smoke anyway - I must be very careful do not overdose. My understanding is that in my situation, actually smoke turns on the aggressive behavior... Right now, I am using semi-decomposed leaves from pepper-tree in the alley. I use propane torch to start smoker - it is very convenient. In our bee-class, they suggested burlap from the coffee bags. Sergey


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## beeherder (Aug 7, 2011)

Commercial beekeeper I get from uses burlap and then puts a handful of smoker pellets, for cooking with on top and said it lasts him all day, and the bag lasts all season. He is very pleased with it cause he just puts in the back of his truck and doesn't have to worry about lighting it again, and he has hives across a 50 mile radius

I use newspaper and mesquite wood from dead branches that I pull off the tree in my yard, doesn't last real long, but does the job for me. The bigger the wood the longer it lasts

They say that honey b healthy sprayed on them cools them from getting too excited, and it makes me wonder if you spray the wood if it would help calm them more, and the homemade honeybhealthy might be just as effective, if it works at all. It may not be effective at all cuz the smell may be altered by the fire


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## SantaFeBeek (Jun 13, 2012)

beeherder said:


> The bigger the wood the longer it lasts


That's what she said! Sorry, couldn't resist.:lookout:


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## Dynasty (Sep 25, 2011)

I haven't used smoke for the last month.. The local forest fires seem to be enough


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## SantaFeBeek (Jun 13, 2012)

I know how you feel! Last year, NM had its largest fire in recorded history, over 150,000 acres. This year, we have another new record, almost doubling last years, right at 300,000 acres. At least most of ours are in the National Forests! Looks like Colorado Springs is getting hammered!!! Good luck up there!


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## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

We are getting the smoke from those fires in CO all the way up here in WY. So in theory, do I need my smoker? Probably not.  I used to live in Loveland, Colorado up on 24th Street just off of Van Buren. Anyway, good luck down there.


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