Robert Akin <[log in to unmask]> said: > I seem to either have difficulty keeping my smoker going, or it burns out > before I am finished working my bees. I get tired of baby sitting the > smoker to keep it going while I am working my bees. I am using dry burlap, > and have used other things, but it seems to go out when I have a hive > opened. It is frustrating to have to stop and relight the smoker! Mr. George Imirie covered all the major points (of course), but I have one small suggestion to add. SCRAP YOUR SMOKER!!!! Yep, you heard me... throw it away. But you need a smoker, don't you? Yes, but you need a BIG one. The biggest size the catalogs have. My father (who is enjoying his 3rd summer of beekeeping and 4th year of retirement) had the same problem you had. He was trying burlap, pine needles, dry hay, but if he set the smoker down, he would have to "puff" for often a full minute to get it to put out more than a feeble transparent amount of smoke. Fast-forward to my first encounter with the bigger-sized smoker. "Why so big?" I asked the owner of the sizeable beastie. "They stay lit better" was the answer. He proved his point by laying down a smoke screen that could have hidden the advance of an entire armored division. "What fuel do you use - plutonium?" I asked. "Nope, same thing you use - pine needles." He said. I thought about that, and bought my father one of the big ones for his birthday. It also had a nice wire "bail" around the chamber to keep the hot metal from touching other things, and a handy little hook to hang it on the edge of a super, ever close at hand. Big ones work better. Or perhaps they just work better in the hands of relative novices. They stay lit longer. Much longer. They also put out MUCH more smoke. I could never produce the think white clouds with my little smoker that I can with my big one. My little smoker has been demoted to be a bit holder for my brace-and-bit drill. Don't ask me why smaller smokers are even offered by the beekeeping supply houses. I'd classify them in the same category as entrance feeders included in beginner kits and masonite inner covers - unexplainable lapses of judgement on the part of otherwise knowledgeable and well-meaning suppliers of appropriate products. You might say I paid too much for a "big" smoker, but when it comes to tools, one can reflect on one's fiscal irresponsibility at one's leisure, by which time the minor additional amount spent on the better tool has proven its value as a good investment. jim Farmageddon