What flavor of bbq smoking chips/blocks do you use?

I try to avoid using chips as much as possible unless I'm using gas. As for chunks, my favorite is pear right now but peach is right up there. Not quite as mild as apple but gives better smoke rings but not as good as cherry in that department. Sort of a best of both worlds. If you want a run down on different smoke woods I have compiled a pretty extensive list.

Cherry probably has the best smoke ring going.

For me it's either oak or mesquite since it's plentiful around here. Although you're sorely temping me with the cherrywood.

Where should one look to find woods other than hickory and mesquite? That's really all I see - but I really don't know where to look. Should I go out to the apple orchard and see if they sell wood? Craigslist? I'm in the DC area if anyone has any ideas.

i'm a wimp and i use wood chips all the time. which ones depend on what i'm cooking and how i want it to taste. i find the smokiest chips are hickory, oak and cherry. mesquite and apple are the sweetest. i guess for all-purpose i'd go with mesquite, which is fairly mild, but more often oak or hickory. generally, for beef or lamb i'll go with those. for pork, a fruit wood like cherry, pecan or apple (hickory, too, of course). and for fish or chicken, mesquite,

The best way to get a wide variety of smoke woods is to start a really shitty grilling blog and build a very small following in your area. Then people will bring it to your house.

After that I would call/check the websites of all the fireplace/grill shops in the area. There are two great firplace/grill shops in st. Louis. One has a nice variety of smoke woods and the other has an insane variety of woods. Before people started bringing it to me, I had resist the temptation to walk out with 20 different kinds. And most of it in baseball size chunks which is the best way to go.

Orchards are another good idea. Another is to call anyone that does tree trimming and see if they can hook you up. Ornamental pear, cherry and apple trees smoke just as well as regular cherry/apple/pear trees. They come across a lot of oak, walnut and other trees that people remove in their entirety or just a branch. Guy across the street from me is having some trees trimmed this fall by a buddy of mine that does tree trimming. One of the things he's doing is pulling down a large branch from a black walnut tree in the back that is getting close to his house. Guess who's going to be there with rubber made tubs to collect some walnut?

As for the best kinds, it really depends on the meat. Pecan is GREAT on beef like brisket. If you plan on saucing after smoking, go with a potent wood like a hickory or a cherry. Mesquite, as mentioned above, is mild if used in moderation but it doesn't go with all meats and can overpower meats.

Don't have smoke woods, try bundling up some Italian herbs, soak in water and drop them right into the fire. EXCELLENT with lamb.

How about the white castle method? I take sliced of onion and whole cloves of garlic, soak in water for a couple hours, and then drop them into the coals. They smoke and give an amazing flavor to the meat. Excellent with pork loin and tenderloin. This method adds some time to the cooking process. You have to open the lid a lot as the onion/garlic burns up pretty quick, the water from the onion and garlic can hamper your fire, so watch your coals but otherwise it's great.

Mesquite is the strongest flavored but I find it alters taste too much.

you know, i used to think that, too, until i tested it. i spent a couple of days cooking different meats over different woods to see how they reacted (yes, that's my job) and i was really surprised that mesquite actually came across fairly delicate. that's why i prefer it for fish and chicken. hickory was the most assertive (though delicious), followed by oak (which, i believe, is mainly a california thing and really great with beef).

Pretty goddamn jealous.

then you've never been on deadline.

I was at a place yesterday where they cooked meat over charcoal in a barrel, sort of like smoking, but without smokey wood. what they did do was put anise and cinimon in the fire. the meat tasted like both, in a very subtle way, and the cook said that he didn't put either in the marinade or sauce. anybody ever do this?