Not a stupid question at all. In fact, a very good one as I'm sure many on here would think that they would make ideal pieces to burn in a smoker. But just like uncle_lar said, you don't know what they have been exposed to. I can tell you first hand, that when I was a forklift operator, pallets sat in all kinds of nasty stuff, were always having something spilled on them when loading drum and so on. If you can get them, they are a good cheap firewood to have around for a firering, but thats all I would use them for, unless your are postive they have not been exposed to sone nasty chemicals.