BBQ Smoke Wood – What's the Best Type of Wood for Your BBQ? – BBQ Guru 

I just watched a video on the best firewood for BTU output and it claimed Hickory has one of the lowest smoke outputs. So how can it be considered good for the smoker?

If you say soak wood before smoking you’re a fn idiot

Excellent advice! Subbed

Where the hell do these "EXPERTS" get all of this info. It's BULLSHIT. Use the wood you like and ENJOY.

Serious – u missed alder for not smoke but embers – Ever tries it?

Horseshit!

Would half wet half dry not be the best route to go with the chip?

I don't understand using the wood in a smoker. He just said to be careful with the amount of wood to add to not over smoke the meat. So when I'am cooking a Brisket for 9 hours what do I use to fuel the fire? I use charcoal as a base. Then I would use wood to keep the fire going for the 9 hours. Charcoal will only last a few hours before it dies. I wouldn't want to add more charcoal through out the cook as it will add dirty smoke at the beginning of getting that charcoal going. So what do I do? I'am smoking brisket tomorrow and planed on charcoal as a base and using Applewood for the rest of the cook. 9 hours total as ive heard 1.5 hrs per pound for smoking. I wanted to add some oak but seems to be impossible to find here.

I have a crab apple tree in my yard that fell is that good wood use? Or should i just stick with regular apple trees

I work in food science & BBQ. This notion that different woods create much different flavors is wrong. The primary compounds (though there's many) which survive the combustion process & flavor meat are vanillin & cis and trans isomers of lactone. These compounds are found in higher amount in oak than other woods, but not in such an amount that effects any outcome of meat flavor after wood combustion. It does effect flavor when the wood is raw, thus the use of oak in whiskey barrels.
There is one outlier to this: mesquite. Mesquite is high in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which can lead to a bitter flavor if used too heavily.
Apple, peach, oak, pecan, hickory, etc, etc, etc, does not impact flavor as much as soil does. The quality of the soil which the wood is grown in allows the trees to create more flavor producing compounds than species of the wood itself. Again, besides mesquite, the choice of wood means nothing. I've seen reviews that swear pecan is stronger than hickory & vise a versa. Truth is, pecans have evolved from hickory & have similar compound profiles. Grown in the same soil they will produce the same tasting meat.
This is the reason there are no "professional wood tasters". You cannot tell "this is apple wood smoked, pecan, oak, etc, etc, etc.
Tl;dr get hardwood from great soil & don't obsess over the type of wood

lol. I use nothing but mesquite because thats all I have. 6 hr ribs come out good! 8 hr pork butt was very flavor full. Although I do want to experiment with other woods.

i like this guy.