BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Smoke fuel strips

  • Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #4645  by rogercorke
 28 Aug 2019, 23:13
I bought my first hive at Beetradex at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire five years ago and, at the time, also bought some great smoker strips for the smoker that I also bought. The strips were about 6-8 inches long, maybe an inch wide and lit really easily with a lighter.

They were really good - but since then, I haven't been able to find them online.

Does anyone know where I can get them?
 #4647  by Patrick
 29 Aug 2019, 11:18
Hi Roger and welcome to the Forum.

No sorry I haven’t come across those. Nearest thing was sulphur strips but wouldn’t be using them on bees!

If you have been keeping bees a while sure you are already aware of common alternatives - there is a good thread on smoker fuel under the beginners section however. Rolled up cardboard is popular, though I now use grass pellets for preference.

A lot of decent innovations seem to crop up and disappear again quite quickly in beekeeping - as do some really shonky ideas! It mysteriously seems to attract “innovators” who often have never actually kept bees - yet weirdly my Grandad (if still alive) would be totally at home working with my setup now.

Is that because we are a really reactionary hobby or because our forebears knew their stuff?
 #4651  by Japey Edge
 29 Aug 2019, 12:03
I've been rolling up cardboard after I saw one of Nigel's posts. Just making cardboard cartridges masking taped up works fine for me.
My wife was cutting the lavender over the weekend so I now add a few bits of lavender in to make the smoke more pleasant when it gets blown into my face (which is most of the time I find).
 #4681  by nealh
 01 Sep 2019, 09:40
I use a newspaper, hessian, shavings mix with dried her offcuts of Rosemary/lavender which I prepare over winter to get good heat, then I use tree bark (free of course ) this comes from a fir tree specie that has a loose outer bark that easily is removed and is very light and fibrous. If I'm lucky and yank off a lump of 2 metres or so it will last me a year or two, also have grass nuts which I use in the mix.
One thing I do it next time is to tip out the unburnt and use this first after lighting the smoker and then top us with fresh on top,