What is a good fuel source for a smoker that burns a long time.
Thank You
Bill
A mix of wood shavings and wood chips, dried pine needles or pieces of old potato hessian sacks are all good. The big problem is in keeping the smoker going rather than how long the fuel burns for so be patient and experiment till you have it worked out.
If you try wood shavings and chips make sure it hasn’t been from treated wood as that will kill the bees.
Cheers Bill
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Well, I am going to sound like a sales person here, but I love Mann Lake’s pellet fuel. However, that comes with a caveat.
My smokers are lit like a secret BBQ. Multiple layers to get it just right. Sounds complicated, but it takes just a minute or two. So here is my secret:
- Make a fist-sized ball of loosely scrunched up paper. Newspaper or brown packing paper are just fine.
- Cut out a ~12" square of burlap (hessian to our European friends)
- Measure out a cupful (240 ml approx) of wood pellets. Each cupful lasts about 20 to 30 mins, if you need more time, measure out more pellets to a max of 3 cupfuls.
- Light the paper and push it into the smoker. Give a few squeezes on the bellows to make sure it is well-lit.
- Push the hessian down on top and give a few more puffs to get it lit well. Wait about 20 seconds.
- Pour the pellets on top and squeeze the bellows more until it is obviously well-lit.
- Shut the smoker lid, and squeeze gently once or twice. If you get a puff of smoke, you are good to go. If you get flames, wait a few minutes. If you get nothing, you may need to start over, but that hasn’t happened to me for many years!
Here are the smoker pellets that I love so much:
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Hi I have a standard size smoker and refuse spending money on smoker fuel.
I use clean corrugated cardboard (the boxes that the FLOW frames came in lasted me a very long time.) I roll them up and make a couple rolls. I pack some dried leaves and some thin twigs that I collect and keep in a box to dry. Then I use a ball of paper to start it up. This will last me well over an hour.
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I agree with @Ruttneri, there’s no need to spend money on smoker fuel.
It’s easier for me to share my video on how I use my smoker.
cheers
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Yes I am with Jeff on this one. I use just straight shaving or chainsaw shavings when I will only want the smoker for a short time.
If I am going to do along inspection or more than one hive I mix sawdust in with the shavings. The sawdust seems to slow the burn down. Don’t pay too much attention of mix or how full or how green the wood is just works.
Believe me I have spent a lot time trying to concoct the perfect fuel but its a waste of time and money. Just use shavings and or sawdust.
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Thank You for all the great suggestions!
Bill
Plenty of toilet roll cardboard inners around these days 
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I find acacia (sheaoak) needles work really well and you can find them almost anywhere in Sydney. The trick is to get a good ember going first then it will last for over an hour easily. Trick is to build it up over a few minutes and put more needles in than you think you need.
Oops. sheoakes belong to the either Allocasuarina or Casuarina. 
But you are correct Sheoake needles are good
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Sorry, you’re right! I had my gorgeous wattles in mind!
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