What's your favorite wood and why?

[mdboatbum]

I've been at this smoking thing for a while now, and like to think I've gotten a decent handle on the process. I've had some pretty spectacular failures along the way, as well as a few pretty damn good meals.

The question of smoke wood really didn't occur to me early on. I'd always heard "Hickory smoked this" or "Mesquite smoked that" but didn't think much about it. I always just grabbed a bag of whatever was next to the charcoal, usually hickory.

I learned early on that I didn't like mesquite. Too bitter. Hickory was kinda my go to, but the flavor was too strong for my taste and gave my stomach fits. Tried Apple and cherry, but didn't seem to get enough flavor.

Then one day I was in a hardware store in St. Simons Island, Georgia, and saw a bag of pecan chunks. My life changed. As Goldilocks said, " this one is just right".

Been using pecan ever since.

What's your favorite and how did you figure it out?

 

[cliffcarter]

Maple. Specifically red maple, sweet smelling smoke, a nice mild flavor and it gives poultry a lovely golden brown color.

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• cliffcarter
• Jan 26, 2014

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• cliffcarter
• Apr 5, 2015

 

[wimpy69]

Second on the maple. Especially rock/sugar maple which i have an endless supply of prunings available. Pecan over hickory since its a little lighter flavor. On chix, usually well seasoned mulberry/maple combo.

 

[noboundaries]

Wow, this is almost like a "favorite rub" question.  Here out west, it is a question of availability more than anything else since we don't have the kind of forests that are available back east.  That's also the reason I don't have a stick burner since a cord of cooking wood (oak and fruit woods) costs $400. 

I use hickory chunks the vast majority of the time.  I like to taste smoke on my meat, and dry smoking in a WSM it lays down a nice flavor.  We like mesquite, but only occasionally.

Cherry is my next favorite.  Then pecan and oak.  When smoking poultry, I'll typically use a 50/50 mix of cherry with any of the woods already mentioned. 

I've never tried maple.  Don't believe I've ever seen it available locally, even in chunk form.  I'll have to pick some up if I do.

 

[SmokinAl]

I use hickory & oak, I like the flavor of hickory. 

And they both are readily available cheaply where I'm at.

Al

 

[bbqwillie]

I'm with the OP, Pecan is my favorite. But I do mix it up now-and-then. Don't want to get boring.

 

[yankee2bbq]

Well, since I rely on wood to heat my house and kept my family warm, I get and use any wood I can get my hands on. So, I learned a lot about what burns the best in turns of longevity. Second was smell. With that being said, I use what I got... a lot of post oak trees around here with hickory and cherry. (Of course there are plenty of elm's, which I do not use in my smokers) So, for me I like post oak for majority of my smoking/grilling and cherry for my deer and fish smokes!

 

[bbqbrett]

My favorite is hickory. I like the strong flavor it gives. Also have found I really like peach for a fruit wood. Trying oak for the first time on some chicken legs today so I will see how that goes.