Oak Wood?


 
Don Cash

Don Cash

TVWBB Gold Member
I've got three huge oak trees in my yard. I know that one is a pin oak (I will never own a house again with a pin oak in the yard...they are a P.I.T.A. during leaf raking season). I don't know what the other two are. All three drop limps from time to time, some of them very big. A few questions:

1) Is any variety of oak suitable for smoking?
2) If so, can you really tell the difference from one variety to the other?
3) Anyone ever smoke with pin oak wood?
4) Are the dropped limbs, since they are dead, "pre-seasoned"? Can I just chop them into chunks and go or should I crate and season them as if they are green?

Thanks in advance for any advice!


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Don,
I have used scrub oak before and it had a nice oak flavor. I wouldn't worry about the variety of oak as long as it is oak wood. I haven't done a side by side comparison of different varieties of wood but I don't think that the flavor will differ. You will have a reduced time for seasoning dropped limbs but they may be greener than you think. You will just have to look as you cut. If the chunks look green you will have to season.
Lance
 
You can use any oak for smoking. Some claim to be able to tell a difference between the types, and maybe they can, but I don't have a sophisticated palate to do so. I have both live and red oaks in my yard.

Paul
 
Oaks are notoriously hard to identify to species, but it doesn't seem to matter for smoking. Your pin oak, for example, could actually be a scarlet oak.

If the leaves are pointy it's in the red oak group, if they are rounded it's one of the white oaks. I've used both and haven't been able to tell the difference.

If the dropped limbs are solid - no rot or bugs - then you have been given a gift. Chop 'em up and smoke away!
 
Oak is the best.... to me oak is oak... did I say I love oak.... is almost the only wood I use now...

Burt
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