[log in to unmask] "Pine needles work well in my small operation. They are free and readily available." Yes, two most important points that need considering (apart from the production of cool smoke, too much tar and the chance that any material used has been contaminated with anything that is harmful to bees). Here in Greece many beekeepers use old hessian sacks which have been used for olive transportation. By the time they are ready for apiary use they are usually well patched after many years of service - nothing is thrown away here by thrifty villagers. The sacks have been washed each year, but evidence of oil is still apparent when the hessian is burning, so its best to leave the sacks out in the open for a year or so. I prefer to use whatever is around me - usually dry grass which is tightly packed packed into the furnace or dried eucalyptus leaves though these burn quite quickly. Best of all I prefer to use dried sheep or cow dung. This material burns very slowly, but sometimes can be the devil to get going - partly due to the fact that we have a lot of wind here and the flame from matches and lighters soon go out. Better by far to give the material a quick blast with a gas blow torch - most beekeepers posses one of these for scorching hives. I did get some cylindrical blocks of compressed sawdust made by a bee appliance manufacturer in Italy, they worked well, but not sure what is used to bind the sawdust together. John Phipps Greece *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm