favorite types of wood

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Primarily hickory but we have 2 pecan trees so am trying that too. Peach is really good, probably any fruit trees would be good.
 
i am using Olive wood as it comes free  where i live, i have some oak and a lemon tree recently chopped down  will be tried in the future.

The Olive wood iis good on chicken  but since it's all i use can only wait untill other woods are used to compare. I can get my hands on Cherry, Plum,  and almond wood as well as the almond Husks that will smoke well, So ive been told, any coments on nut shells for smoke??????
Have you tried olive wood on a pork butt yet? Does it impart a good smokiness? I met a guy once that said plum was awesome. That's all he used.
 
IMHO ,Pecan is probably the most neutral flavored smoking wood. I use it allmost every smoke BUT! i have a MES and i add small handfulls of fruit wood

chips when doing poultry and smaller cuts of meat and small palmfulls of misquetewhen doing beef or butts. But pecan is allways my base wood.
 
I like hickory but like you I personally prefer the lighter woods. I have some oak both red and white too but I don't use a whole lot of it.  When I do it's with other woods. My favorite is pecan. It just goes so well with just about anything that I cook and I like to  use it with almond. The almond is similar and a bit less sweet in my opinion so you can tone down the sweetness of pecan if you want that way. The woods I have in my chest are red and white oaks, beech, wild cherry, pecan, apricot, hickory, olive, guava, grapefruit and a little bit of maple. The apricot is similar to apple wood and maybe a touch less sweet sometimes I'll use that with guava or maple. I like using olive smoking poultry. For ribs the two combos I've used that I like best are pecan, cherry and almond. And guava, pecan and almond. I'll use oak with pecan and almond for brisket, sometimes cherry. The cooker used makes a difference too.     
 
My favorite's are Hickory and Peach for everything.  I use a 25% Hickory and 75% peach mix in the wood burner.   Hickory is a wood that doesnt produce a good smoldering smoke.  Much better if it's burning at the proper temp.  I do not use hickory in the electric or gassers.  Prefer using Maple and fruit woods in those.  Only thing I use Mesquite for is grilling.
 
It all depends on what I'm smoking...I love apple, cherry and pecan.  I mixed cherry and hickory in a brisket I did awhile back w/ great results.  I've used alder with drunken chicken that kicked ass if I do say so myself.  Next up on the list of woods to try is oak.
 
I like mixing my woods also. I use a lot of hickory but like mixing in pecan, cherry, and apple. Would like trying others but haven't found a good supply around here. I always thought mesquite was pretty strong on meat so I haven't used it very much. If you didn't like hickory I wonder if you had a creosote problem due to the dreaded "white smoke".
 
I've smoked with lots of different types of chips in my Weber kettle before I got my pit.  I've used apple, cherry, maple, oak, mesquite, pecan, alder, hickory, grapevine, and even Jack Daniels oak chips.  The apple and cherry are best on poultry, and its a toss up between pecan and mesquite for beef.  Grapevine (the domestic variety, not the wild stuff I have) is, I think, hands down the absolute best wood for pork.  My dad used it a couple times, and it was outstanding. 

Now that I have my pit, I have only used oak, wild pecan (pig-nut, in Texas), a little wild grapevine, apple, and elm.  I'm like HookUp, I like my wood free.  My first supply of these came from my dad's place in Texas.  Of these, the elm was hands down the best.  I know a lot of people don't smoke with elm, and I've even heard it will make you sick, but I had no problems with it, and it beat my pecan and oak.  I'm out of it now, and am resupplying my needs in AZ by getting some down and dead Gambel's oak in the national forests.  We'll see how that works out next summer.

Mark
 
I've used most types. Pecan is my go to wood for most things. I think it burns a little less hot than hickory and isn't quite as acrid.  Also have been using apple as I got some from a friend. I'm starting to run low now so I may get some hickory as a place near here will sell you their cutoffs from making axe handles. Quite a bit for $5.00. Has anyone used redbud? I've heard it imparts a buttery, almondy taste. I've tried it but couldn't really tell.
 
I mainly use ash because it's what I have the most of on the property. I also use oak, cherry, and apple (when our couple of apple trees need pruning).
 
 
I've smoked with lots of different types of chips in my Weber kettle before I got my pit.  I've used apple, cherry, maple, oak, mesquite, pecan, alder, hickory, grapevine, and even Jack Daniels oak chips.  The apple and cherry are best on poultry, and its a toss up between pecan and mesquite for beef.  Grapevine (the domestic variety, not the wild stuff I have) is, I think, hands down the absolute best wood for pork.  My dad used it a couple times, and it was outstanding. 

Now that I have my pit, I have only used oak, wild pecan (pig-nut, in Texas), a little wild grapevine, apple, and elm.  I'm like HookUp, I like my wood free.  My first supply of these came from my dad's place in Texas.  Of these, the elm was hands down the best.  I know a lot of people don't smoke with elm, and I've even heard it will make you sick, but I had no problems with it, and it beat my pecan and oak.  I'm out of it now, and am resupplying my needs in AZ by getting some down and dead Gambel's oak in the national forests.  We'll see how that works out next summer.

Mark
the reason you don`t use elm is it will give you a hart attack trying to split it use oak,cherry,hicorey and ash thanks to emerald  ash borer  would realy like to try pecan but it dosen`t grow here in ohio pig nut is a type of hickory 
 
MarkyQue, there are two ways to season your wood; split it and set it out in the sun to dry over 6 months to a year (some wood takes longer) or "kiln" dry it in your smoker. Set it around 165F for 1 1/2 hours. I'm not 100% sure on the temperature and time. However I agree with Betaboy, you should be able to use the apple wood green. From the research I've done and the experimenting, I haven't had any issues using green wood. I've used oak (various varieties), wild almond, wild pecan, and maple all green. It seems the need to season wood is more so for wood burners because green wood is a less efficient fuel source than seasoned wood due to water content. A lot of people soak their wood before throwing in the smoker so it smolders and doesn't burn. I don't see the point of taking all the water out of the wood just to add it back later. However if you don't have a wood chipper I'm sure you can just cut your tree into small logs and split to a size small enough for your smoker. If they are too long after you split the logs just use branch cutters to trim the "sticks" to size. That way you can store the wood in larger pieces a just prep a small amount the day before or during the smoke.
 
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