wood or wood/charcoal

[smokingnoregon]

hello everyone. i'm having a wood burning pit built. i've only used pellet smokers before and i'm not to sure what to use. i really only want to bbq with wood. i was thinking hickory or oak and then smoking mainly with cherry or apple. i've noticed that alot of people use charcoal for heat and then smoke with wood. i've also tasted it and alot i have tasted has a charcoal taste. what's everyone's opinion?

 

[cliffcarter]

I use 2 chimeys of fully lit lump charcoal in the fire box to start the fire and warm up the cooking chamber, then add one or two splits of wood to the fire just before I put the meat on. From then on I add wood as needed to keep the cooking temp in the range that I want. I always have at least one split warming on top of the firebox to speed up ignition of the wood when I add it to the firebox. I sometimes warm the splits in the firebox away from the fire.  

The key to cooking with wood is to have a small, hot fire.

Here's a link to an article by oldschoolbbq that has more info for you-

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/stickburning101