Do yourself a big favor, pop over to
Amazon and pick up a moisture meter.
You can get one for under $30 and it will work.
When you do find firewood (oak, pecan, hickory) test it for moisture content before laying down the cash.
Most chainsaw jockeys don't know or don't care how long a particular tree has been "down" before they declare it "seasoned" and sell it off to unsuspecting cooks.
That's fine for fireplace work but causes all kinds of headaches when used in a smoker.
Super dry wood is light like balsa and burns away too quick (but does provide good smoke flavor).
Wood that's too wet or not seasoned long enough will burn too hot, release less that ideal smoke profile and create too much coals which drives cook chamber temp too high without allowing you to add more sticks to increase the smoke profile in the meat.
Ideally you are looking for 15% moisture (up to 20% or so).
These will burn medium quick and medium hot producing excellent smoke flavor in the meat.
Also the coal base will not get too large but burn away just about in time to add another stick.
Burning sticks produce the smoke that (when heated high enough by the coal base to scrub the nasty chems out) flavor the meat.
Coals produce some flavor elements but do the scrubbing of the fresh smoke from new sticks, that, well, see above.