Working with wild scutellata bees, which I need to do all the time,
needs special attention to smokers. The wild African bee can be quite
nasty, and sometimes all the smoke in the world makes very little
difference. Anyhow, we run at least two medium sized smokers.
These contain golf-ball sized pieces of dried cow dung. The bottom
pieces have been lit with a small gas torch that plumbers use. It is
very quick and convenient, especially when you make up a new load of
dung during operations. You get lots and lots of smoke, which is,
unfortunately, a hot smoke. If you know the bees are really going to
nail you, when the smoker is lit up, you sprinkle half a handful of
tobacco dust over the top. This dust definitely works. These dung-filled
smokers need very little, if any, nursing, once you know the central
"coals" are hot.

When I work my own bees, which are also scutellata, but bred to
certain refinements, I need very little, if any smoke. The exhalant from
smoking a cigarette would be sufficient, but may turn my bees into
litigants (that was from the sense-of-humour department). But
seriously, for my own bees I use dried pine needles, which produce a
uniform cool smoke. Burning pine needles is a bit of an art; suffice to
say the smoker should be packed in a way not dissimilar to how a
pipe smoker packs his tobacco. Overall, pine needles are definitely
the best smoke for bees; and among pine needles, I would
recommend pinus radiata as the best source.

Barry Sergeant
Kyalami
South Africa