I always have trouble keeping my smoker going for a full inspection of my hive. However, I smoke an occasional cigar and I never have trouble keeping them lit and for that matter generating a lot of smoke. Has anyone ever tried bringing a lit stogie to their hive inspection and giving a few puffs when necessary? Would the tobacco smell harm the bees?
So you’re not wearing head/face protection?
With my first inspection I was covered head to toe with rubber bands around my pant legs. With each subsequent inspection I have slowly shed gear. My last go around I was wearing shorts and no head gear. I have yet to be stung. Am I being too cavalier?
Anybody ever heard of Jethro Tull?
I don’t know if you are cavalier- but I wouldn’t do it… I opened a hive a few months ago and immediately about 100 bees flew out and started attacking my face. I had the suit on so it was OK- but I could see them all bashing into the veil sting end first. I don’t know why they were so irate on that one occasion - and I decided to cancel the inspection and come back at another time. If I wasn’t wearing the suit I believe I would have been stung in the face maybe 50 times…
as to trouble keeping the smoker lit- sounds like your technique needs work. I used to have that happen too- now I am extra careful to get it going well at the start and significantly overpacking it so that it will burn for hours (much longer than I ever need). I start a small fire in the bottom of the smoker and puff, puff, puff until it is roaring. I wait until there are red hot coals at the bottom before filling the smoker entirely- well packed- then puff, puff, puff until its going nice and I am good to go. I am currently using pine needles and my smoker never goes out anymore.
Brit blues/indie/folk rock group. Started in the late 60’s but lasted well into the 70’s and beyond. My father loved them. He didn’t smoke cigars, or anything else…
and what was the name of one of their best albums?
One way to extinguish the cigar would be to put it in the smoker!
Well, that is open for discussion. Best in who’s opinion? However, I seem to recall that “Stand Up” went to number one on the UK album charts. I don’t think any of the others did quite as well as that, but what do I know? I only had a glancing acquaintance with them through my father.
I always thought it was a toss up between “Aqualung” and “Thick as a brick”
Definitely Aqualung (IMHO)
Try some mull (local slang for marijuana) on them man.
Seriously, here is my smoker video.
The main thing to remember is to empty the smoker of ash from the previous use before lighting it. Get a good little fire going in the base of the smoker before adding the fuel you want to create the smoke with. Wood shavings work fantastic & last for ages.
Never a big fan. His early songs were just OK but went he too close to a heavy metal style in the mid 70’s. I was probably getting too old for him by then.
Surely a cigar keeps alight because you puff it all the time. If you puff a smoker frequently that will stay alight. The old skep beekeepers used a smoker that looked like a huge pipe and was puffed by mouth. They suffered all sorts of oral and respiratory cancers
Brick,
My dad smokes cigarettes (never cigar). Only time i remember dad being stung was when he pull the 3# empty package out of the hive. ( back in the 1950’s we were told to put the entire box in) … To make a lonnng story short: I guess the box still had some bees on it. Dad never banded his pant legs until after a few bees went on a hike up the inside of Pop’s pants. (Bad mistake he made only once)… Those girls stung him on everything he had up those long pant legs including his “privates” ! I was sure what had happen as dad quickly shed those buzzing britches. He ran yelling and screaming n cussing all the way to the house about 100 or so yards away. Mom figured it out, calmed his words I’d never heard before. (What a vocabulary lesson)… Dear doctor mom fixed him up with plenty of wet baking soda n the old “Bluejng bottle”. He was blue for a few day. Hmm, where was I on this Short Story ?!? Oh … Dad alway tucked his pant legs in from then on but never wore a net but I DID … Mom made me a full suit so I was GOOD while did that one memorial dance n Indian dance I’ll never for get ! Dad just smoked up a smoke n blew it on the bees. But I used my smoker ! I still have that old Smoker dad made … He was a welder n sheet metal man !
Enough said
Ta Ta,
Gerald
I have seen a video of beekeepers in Slovenia using cigar smoke to calm the bees. The beekeeper was however inside one of those beehouses and using an AZ Hive which seems to be easier to inspect than Langstroth styled hives.
I’ve never tried it…
I guess like the Tull song, some times I am “As thick as a Brick”
I think it is our Australian sense of humour, the rest of the world has not yet figured it out. I will not be sharing a good cigar, a piece of stilton and some Armagnac with any bees, no matter how much I like them!
I use burlap bags. Lights easy and stays on long enough.