Best smelling wood

I've been burning through some well seasoned Ironwood for this cold snap (-8* yesterday morning). It has a delightful, nutty aroma and has to rank as my new favorite. What's yours?

Ehouse

May not have the 'best' aroma but cherry is my favorite.

Where in Upstate, N.Y.? We have family in Columbia County and a cabin on 13th Lake, not too far out of North Creek.

Cooperstown area, north of Otsego lake. I used to work the railroad up North Creek way.

Applewood is the best smelling wood when burning, hands down.......I have almost a cord of it that I use for cooking/smoking. Coming up close second is hickory, which is just ahead of white oak......then cherry.....maple and ash....

Anything but willow!! Thats the WORST one, hands down!!

I never had the pleasure of burning Ironwood, Ehouse. I wish I could comment on it for ya, though. Another wood I've never burned (and they say it smells phenomenal) is pecan.

I agree with the "stinkers" though, we can also throw basswood into that list IMO.

peach then sassafras for me.

Apple smells the best when burning....without a doubt. I like walnut the best when cutting, but white oak smells pretty good too. Some people think walnut stinks but I love it.

When cutting it's white oak, walnut, sassafras, and birch for me....

Love that furniture smell of fresh cut walnut. I have a stack of boards in the garage seasoning right now, the whole garage smells like a furniture factory!

I don't know why, but I always enjoyed the aroma of the burning bark of a yellow birch...you know, the stringy part that catches fire like mad??

cutting/splitting red oak, ash and walnut

Burning: cherry, apple, pecan.

Loive burning ironwood. For the heat.

Maybe I am challenged, but I don't smell the different woods when burning them in my Woodstock stoves...didn't with the Fireview, don't with the PH. Guess I'm missing some of the pleasure.

Love to look at maple burning...get a green flame off it. White birch gives a shining whitish flame. Ironwood a really hot blue flame. Love the different flames the different woods generate.

Apple, cherry and eastern white cedar.

When cutting, black birch. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet. I love that wintergreen smell. When burning, probably apple.

Cherry, Hickory then Walnut. Don't forget Oak, Beech and Ash. Then there's Dogwood, Maple and .......... but never Locust, at least before dusk.

I like the smell of cutting pine. It's like Christmas year 'round.

Hoping to get a quality load of hickory. Have burned very little of it so I am not sure what to expect regarding smell. I believe it is a mockernut hickory that is down so not sure how that ranks against shagbark or shellbark. Anyone familiar with the subtle differences? I agree that locust is great to split but stinky to burn.

Sugar Maple for me !

One of my customers is across the interstate and downwind from a Cracker Barrel. It's always fun to climb out of the truck and figure out what they are burning. Lately it's been ash and maple, but sometimes they get some hickory. Then, down the street there is a meat market that also sells barbecue take out. I drive by there again about 8:30, shortly after they fire up the smoker. Always cherry, apple, or hickory.

That's really the only highlight of my job.

Nothing comes close to sassafras when it comes to pleasant odor.

Ok, I don't smell my woodstove, only when I'm smoking am I paying attention to the smoke smell. Maybe it's becase I burn mostly ash in my stove, which to me doesn't smell like anything, other than wood burning

However, when I'm smoking meat, pecan is tops than it's a tie between apple and cherry. Unless of course, I'm using wood chips made from Jack Daniels barrels, then neighbors I never knew I had are lured to my smoker to find out what that beautiful aroma is

Cutting - Black Cherry,Black Walnut,White Oak (includes Bur Oak,Post Oak etc),Slippery/Red Elm (not much left around here,smells like cinnamon),Eastern Red Cedar.Not much Apple around here,that I have access to anyway.

Burning - Black Cherry,Apple,Hickory,Norway/Silver Maple (like maple syrup!!),Scrap Yellow/White Pine/Doug Fir,Black Walnut,White Oak,Red Elm.

Smoking - Cherry or Apple for pretty much everything including poultry or salmon,its not overpowering,Hickory for beef/pork,mesquite for beef especially.Mulberry in small amounts mixed with White Oak is really nice.Also had great results with 50/50 mixes of White Oak/Cherry,Red & White Oak/Mesquite (most intense coals I've had so far) & White Oak/Hickory.


A year or so back tried 50/50 Norway Maple/Cherry in the Weber kettle on some wild caught store bought Norwegian Salmon filets resting on a soaked Western Red Cedar plank.... WOW.

I have burned but a limited variety, but cherry followed by hickory would be my votes.