"That leaves us with basically just plant material "

I have burned hardwood scraps from my wood working shop for years.  Ash, maple, oak and cherry all seem about equal.  The key to burning hard woods is when you are done with the smoker dump the contents in a gallon metal paint can and put the lid on to kill the fire. This gives you a stash of charcoal and partly burned wood to use to start next time.  Next time you use the smoker put no more than an inch of charred wood and charcoal in the bottom of the smoker.  Hit it with just a little charcoal lighter fluid and let it burn until the lighter fluid is burned off.  As a guess it only takes five milliliters of lighter fluid.  Maybe less.  It only takes three or four minutes to burn off.  If it takes longer you used way too much lighter fluid.  Now add another couple of inches of charred wood and charcoal from the paint can and fill it with fresh wood chopped into one or two cubic inch hunks.  That fire right at the bottom will keep going without much pumping the bellows.  I can let the smoker stand for 20 minutes and the fire is still fine.  Every hour or so top off the contents with fresh hunks of wood.  I have no issues with the smoker going out.  I get clouds of smoke and if you keep the fire at the bottom the smoke is not too hot.  The wood is free.  There are no added chemicals to worry about.  Ten or fifteen hours of use will coat the lid with enough creosote the lid is hard to shut.  Burn the creosote off with a propane torch and you are back to like new.

Summary on advantages:
Dirt easy and fast to light
Fire does not go out on standing 20 minutes with no bellows pumping
Lots of reasonably cool smoke
Does not agitate the bees

Dick

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