Wood, where, what and why?

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webebigdog

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 28, 2012
25
10
Wisconsin, Madison
Been smoking for a  long time. Avid Hickory wood user for all most every thing. I use Apple wood when I smoke bacon. Today, I scored a full trailer of apple wood, logs from 20 inches or so down to 4 inches. I get to go back tomorrow for another trailer full. Up until now, I have been begging and buying(at a price) for apple wood. Now I have a cord of apple, 1/2 cord of hickory and 6 cords of oak. I have never smoked with oak before, my friend loves it, says he gets good penetration and color. I know some people use pecan and other fruit/nut woods. My question to all is this, what wood is your favorite, why so and what you smoking?

grilling_smilie.gif
 
I use a lot of hickory. Reason being I have a lot here. I have oak everywhere, Oak does well. I trim my apple trees and have been on a apple kick for a long time, and my pear trees give me some wood. I brought a sh#t load of mesquite home from Texas when I worked there. Then I do some mixing of woods.

Moral of the story is a lot of us use what we have. I can't say I could pick just one for the rest of my smokes.

Happy smoken.

David
 
I have actually used smokes this year I had not heard of before, and I am not exactly new to the rodeo. I like all of them. I guess my preference would be by meat. Hard beef = Mesquite, Hard pork = usually hickory and apple, Light Pork = pecan, and the same with fowl, pecan.

I like pecan because I have trees on the property, besides it is what most folks here use so its just a normal taste modifier which is easily recognizable. Occasionally I get wild and and use something different, just so I wouldn't become locked in on one.

I had a turkey a few months back, stuffed the cavity with apricots and smoked with peach......... It was top shelf. Might have been one of my top 3 fowls of all time. But I wouldn't want it everyday.
 
lots of cherry, oak and maple here.  all great . cherry my fav . smells great while smoking.  white oak also great smell , also good for fuel wood. maple great mellow vanilla aroma
 
Cherry. Great clean and clear smoke ring in pork. Decent flavor without overpowering. It is also native to this area and reasonably cheap & easy to get.

I also like hickory, mesquite, and pecan when I can get them at a reasonable price. My stick burner eats quite a bit of wood so I'll use these until the meat hits 165.
 
Wow, lots of differences on location and flavors. This is cool, I never would have thought of mixing woods? Why? I quess I just never tried. I will now start mixing with some experimentation of flavors. I Just cold smoked 42 pounds of bacon using apple wood. Just love that smell when cooking and the taste!!!!! Happy smoking everyone. Gotta go monitor my smoke. Trying 2 whole hams for the first time. We will see how they are.
 
Hey

I use cherry for my cheese, apple and birch mix for my pork, and a lot of willow for my beef.  Why willow??  2 reasons.  1) it is a nice mild smoke, and 2 )because aside from poplar and spruce (which really suck) it is the most common wood out here an I have a huge pile of it from when we cleared the land to build the house  LOL

Gary
 
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i use alot of mesquite mostly beacause its one of the one woods that i can find out here in Hawaii, never thought that would be a common one out here. im going to start experimenting with some of the local wood out here soon though. 
 
i also just found this little gem when i was looking into some of the local wood here for anyone whos interested just a chart of different types of wood characteristics of the smoke and what its good with. good for little newbies like me.
 
I use what I have mostly available to me and that is oak. Ill buy the cherry and apple chunks, but don't really get a huge difference or change in flavor for me. When I can get it I love doing a mix of oak and orange. Don't like misquite. Hickory is nice. I have some pecan, but my chainsaw is down so it will have to wait for me to try it.
 
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