Home Depot / Lowe's woods

[rajones19]

My new Smokin-It #2 arrived today, and I cannot wait for the weekend. I was at Home Depot last night, grabbed a bag of Char-Broil packaged Cherry wood chunks. I haven't opened it yet, but now I'm reading some posts about Lowes' and HD woods being super dry (probably kiln-dried), and therefore prone to flare-ups. Is this common enough to warrant returning the stuff, getting my money back and looking elsewhere? I'd rather find out now than after I open the bag, and I want to have something available for the weekend. I do have the pieces of hickory that came with the smoker. For God's sake, I wish I had been born with one ounce of patience .... Thanks in advance for any and all comments. Apologies to those who frequent other forums - I posted this a couple other places, also. This means you, Old Sarge! 

 

[Rob Babcock]

Did you season it already?  You should do that first.  I don't know how much hickory came with the smoker because I ordered a couple batches with my #3.  I will say though that you can season with a few ounces, then use 2-3 oz for your first batch of food.  Sorry, I can't comment on the HD stuff since I've never used it.  One would think that you could soak it overnight if flareups are a problem.  Or soak it, use it to season, and save the good stuff from Smokin-It to cool.

 

[rajones19]

So - to answer my own question - you bet your butt, it sure flares up. I'm on my 'seasoning' run, three chunks of wood (2 of the Home Depot cherry, one chunk of the supplied hickory) at 250 degrees. It started belching about 25 minutes into the process, temps up over 300 degrees. I turned the element off, and am waiting for it to cool back down. I guess I'll have to either soak this wood overnight before I use it, or just toss it in the campfire when we get moved to the campground for the summer, and order something decent online. Not much available in my area except this stuff. Oh, well.

 

[Grimm5577]

I have had no luck with store bought wood. They flare up. I buy mine from ebay. Alot of people also recommend http://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/

 

[rajones19]

I have had no luck with store bought wood. They flare up. I buy mine from ebay. Alot of people also recommend http://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/

I'll no doubt be ordering from Fruitawoodchunks - we've been to Fruita, it's a nice little town, and I like supporting the little guy. I may try to use some of the store-bought wood before I consign it to the firepit. Several on the 'other' forum suggested partially wrapping it in foil to cut down how much air it gets. May try soaking it, too - but sure not buying any more of it. In the end, though, I'd rather burn $7 worth of wood in a firepit than use that wood in my smoker and burn $25 worth of meat. Lesson learned.

 

[Grimm5577]

I tried soaking mine for 20-30mins and it still flared. I use mine in my charcoal smoker so it's not a total loss for me.

 

[redriders99]

Hi guys. Question. From the link for those fruitwood guys, they state their wood can come with bark. Can bark wood be used in our smokers?

Thx.

Redriders

 

[UWFSAE]

My experience has been that using a large mallet and knocking a bit off of woods with thicker bark like oak makes some sense as bark will burn fast and smoky and may contribute to bitterness.  I don't bother with removing bark from apple, peach, or cherry.

I think the real issue would be in the type of meat and the length of the smoke; I'm hoping to do some beer can Cornish game hens next weekend and I'd likely avoid as much bark as I could because it's such a short, fast smoke.  With brisket, or even pork butt, I doubt you'd notice too big a differench.

 

[es1025]

I have bought wood from fruitawood.  I have has no issues with the bark since the wood is very fresh.  If the bark falls off during the trimming to size process so be it, if not, bark and all go into the smoke tray. 

 

[DivotMaker]

Same here on the Fruitawood... good, fresh wood, and I can see no difference in taste with bark on or off.  Keep in mind, that's with fruit woods (apple, cherry and peach).  If I use hickory, I stick with the Smokin-It dowels.  Can't wait until they offer other woods in the dowels!

 

[es1025]

Tony, you ever split the dowels? I've been thinking about splitting to level out the smoke. Not the it matters, but sometimes the dowels dont burn to ash.

 

[DivotMaker]

Actually, Ed, I have considered either splitting them, or just cutting them in shorter lengths.  I also have the same problem that they don't always completely burn.  May have to try that next time.  Anybody else have thoughts on this?

 

[es1025]

I am going to half the dowels this weekend. I'll let you all know how the smoke comes out.

 

[jenni]

My husband was buying our smoker wood from lowes or home depot and then we heard it is usually overseasoned but that may be a rumor. We tried some wood from http://growokc.com and it seemed fresh and it was worth a try. Unless you have two smokers sitting side by side to rank the differences but we do like the fresh wood better. We think we could tell the difference. My husband is really really into smoking meats so it is kinda like his hobby, lol. I just eat but it sure is good!

 

[H3]

My advise is to only get your wood from www.smokinlicious.com. I have tried Maine Grilling Wood and many other brands, but I have found that smokinlicious is by far the best. They give you a sheet with the moisture content of the wood in your order. I do not even have to foil boat the wood. It smokes great and tastes even better. They do not have apple, so I have to get that from MGW.