Burning white oak smell

[Dfw245]

Is it normal for my white oak to smell incredibly sweet when burning? Smells sweeter than my cherry. Kinda smells like a vanilla maple syrup. It's putting off crazy heat and coaling like crazy, but that smell....is fantastic. I've smelled oak before as Texas is known for smoking meat with oak. But this? It's never smelled this sweet before. And red oak has a very rancid smelling burn. Is there a particular oak variety that smells sweet when burned?

 

[Stinkpickle]

Yes, that’s common with white oak. I mix it with almost any wood in my smokers.

 

[Dfw245]

Really? Interesting. I'm wondering why most oak I smell doesn't smell that way. Everyone uses post oak mostly down here but it smells nowhere near this sweet. For a while I thought I had mixed up some maple in here

 

[patrickk222]

i kinda got the same smell when burnin white oak always loved it

 

[Stinkpickle]

Really? Interesting. I'm wondering why most oak I smell doesn't smell that way. Everyone uses post oak mostly down here but it smells nowhere near this sweet. For a while I thought I had mixed up some maple in here

I live quite a bit north, and oaks we get around here can vary widely in smell, especially the red ones. The whites are more consistent and mellower. They all smell good to me once seasoned. I have some bur oak that I’m cooking with that smells especially sweet. It was from a stack intended for the wood stove, until I tossed a split in the fire pit one night and caught a whiff.

 

[Dfw245]

Maybe what I have is bur oak then? Not really sure how to tell tho. Looks like oak to me lol it's abnormally sweet and I've really only ever burned white oak

 

[Stinkpickle]

Maybe what I have is bur oak then? Not really sure how to tell tho. Looks like oak to me lol it's abnormally sweet and I've really only ever burned white oak

Bur oak is in the white oak family, and looks similar to regular white oak, but it usually has much thicker bark. I’ve had other loads of bur oak that weren’t as good as this one. It’s probably from a single tree and I got lucky. I got it from a tree service, so I don’t know the tree’s story.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I burn alot.of white oak.. Iv never noticed a smell any different then pin, red, swamp, or black oak.. I do notice the cherry though..

 

[Dfw245]

Bur oak is in the white oak family, and looks similar to regular white oak, but it usually has much thicker bark. I’ve had other loads of bur oak that weren’t as good as this one. It’s probably from a single tree and I got lucky. I got it from a tree service, so I don’t know the tree’s story.

Could be possible then. Not too sure about the bark but I have a half cord of white oak that I split myself separate from some white oak I got from a tree service. Mine smells like normal post oak. But the stuff from the tree service is crazy sweet. It's great honestly but abnormal.

 

[Dfw245]

I burn alot.of white oak.. Iv never noticed a smell any different then pin, red, swamp, or black oak.. I do notice the cherry though..

Oh no sir. Red oak smells disgusting to me. Not rancid but man is it a slightly acrid smell compared to the robust white oak smell.

 

[zmender]

Burn it hot enough, they all have that "astringent" wood stove scent.

 

[Dfw245]

Burn it hot enough, they all have that "astringent" wood stove scent.

Never had it with white oak. I've burnt it with Osage before. No such smell. Red oak is the only smoke smell that just seems so much stronger. White oak has a more subtle fragrance