SWEET SWEET SMOKE.

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DavidV

New Member
Nov 20, 2005
792
Richmond VA
The other day I was burning a first morning load that as far as I could tell was about 50/50 oak and beach. I opened the stove to stuff in a few pieces of elm and I got a really strong whiff of sweet smoke. Really sweet like it was incense or perfume. I've never noticed this before and when I took my kids out to the bus stop I couls smell it again. I found it to be very pleasant. Usually I can't even smell the smoke since the stove drafts well and it shoots up the chimney. On the mornings where I'm starting the stove back up and I go outside and the smoke has dropped to ground level, it's usually just ......smokey.! Not sweet. So has anyone else experienced this , and what kind of wood was it?? I have tried to reproduce that smell and can't. Does the sweet smelling wood tend to make smoked/bar-b-cued meats taste better?
 
Sounds like beech. When I was a kid I used to break a twig off of beech just to smell or chew on. Nature's perfume.
 
I figured maybe it was the beech. I know oak smoke. Not altogether unpleasant but totally different from that smell. I have been trying to place my beech pieces close to the front of the stove to reproduce this effect but I have had no luck. I guess I shouldn't complain. I very seldom have any smoke or smoke smell come into the house.
Is it any good for cooking? barbecuing?
 
Many times, the dryness of the wood will affect the smoke quality as well. Wet oak for example is practically rancid smelling, but dry it out a couple of years and it picks up much more body. Could be that the particular combination of wet/dry logs in the fire at that moment gave the effect. Or maybe the outside of a particular log had charred away and the inside was burning with a slightly different character.

Corey
 
David, oak is a common wood to add to a smoker when making bbq. Of course the selection of wood for bbq is as hotly debated as burning it for firewood. But I use chunks of oak, and usually chunks of apple, peach or cherry with it. Who knows. Just when you start to believe a given experts advice in the subject they go off and say something else crazy.
 
I have a stick of dry juniper a friend brought to me that I shave off a few pieces and let it smolder. It has a great aroma. We also have a big bay tree that smells divine when the leaves burn. I sometimes put some dried leaves in with the kindling.
 
we touched on the smell of poplar recently. Different varieties must vary greatly. The huge poplars around here smell like cat whizz when you split them so I never want to bring them inside.
 
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