Guide to Wood Chips and Chunks for Smoking

While charcoal provides the heat for smoking, it's the addition of wood that creates the distinctive smoke flavour we associate with great BBQ. Different woods produce different flavour profiles, ranging from mild and sweet to bold and earthy. Understanding wood selection and usage is essential knowledge for anyone serious about smoking meat.

This comprehensive guide covers wood types, their flavour profiles, how to pair them with different meats, and practical tips for using wood with your charcoal grill or smoker.

Chips vs Chunks: Understanding the Difference

Wood for smoking comes in two primary forms, and each has advantages for different situations:

Wood Chips

Small, thin pieces of wood that ignite quickly and produce smoke rapidly. Chips burn out within 15-30 minutes, making them suitable for short cooking sessions or when you want a quick burst of smoke flavour. They're commonly used in gas grills with smoker boxes or for adding smoke to foods with shorter cook times.

Wood Chunks

Larger pieces, typically fist-sized, that smoulder slowly over extended periods. Chunks are ideal for long smoking sessions because they produce consistent smoke for 1-3 hours before needing replenishment. For charcoal smoking, chunks are generally the better choice.

Wood Types and Flavour Profiles

Each wood species produces a unique smoke flavour. Learning these profiles helps you create intentional, complementary flavour combinations.

Mild Woods

Apple: Sweet, mild, and slightly fruity. Apple wood produces a subtle smoke that enhances without overpowering. Excellent for pork, poultry, and fish. One of the most versatile and beginner-friendly woods. The smoke also contributes a beautiful reddish-brown colour to the bark.

Cherry: Mildly sweet with a hint of tartness. Cherry delivers a beautiful mahogany colour to smoked meats and pairs well with almost anything. Particularly good with pork and poultry. Often blended with stronger woods to balance their intensity.

Peach/Apricot: Similar to apple but with distinct stone fruit sweetness. These fruit woods work well with pork and poultry, adding a unique twist that apple and cherry don't quite match.

Medium Woods

Oak: The workhorse of smoking woods. Oak produces a medium smoke flavour that's never overwhelming, making it versatile for virtually any meat. It's the standard wood in Texas-style beef brisket and pairs excellently with all red meats. Oak serves as an excellent base wood for blending.

Pecan: Similar to hickory but milder and slightly sweeter. Pecan offers a rich, nutty flavour that works with pork, poultry, and beef. It's a good choice when you want more flavour than fruit woods but less intensity than hickory. Native to North America, it's become increasingly available in Australia.

Maple: Light, sweet smoke with subtle notes. Maple is particularly good with pork and poultry, adding sweetness that complements glazes and sweet rubs. It burns relatively hot, so monitor your temperatures.

Strong Woods

Hickory: The classic BBQ wood with bold, bacon-like flavour. Hickory produces assertive smoke that stands up to robust meats like pork shoulder and ribs. Use it judiciously—too much creates bitter flavours. Often blended with milder woods to temper its intensity.

Mesquite: The most intense smoking wood, with earthy, almost aggressive flavour. Mesquite burns hot and fast, making it best for quick grilling rather than long smoking sessions. It can easily overpower food, so use sparingly or blend with milder woods. Popular in Texas for quick-grilled steaks.

Australian Native Woods

Australia offers unique native woods that produce distinctive smoke profiles:

Ironbark: Very dense wood that burns hot and long. Produces medium-strong smoke with earthy notes. Excellent for beef and lamb, with a distinctly Australian character.

Red Gum: Medium smoke intensity with slightly sweet undertones. Works well with most meats and is widely available in Australia. A good all-purpose native option.

Tea Tree/Paperbark: Mild smoke with subtle, slightly medicinal notes. Interesting for fish and poultry. Use experimentally—the flavour may not suit everyone's palate.

How to Use Wood with Charcoal

Adding Wood Chunks

For smoking, place wood chunks directly on top of lit charcoal or nestle them among the coals. The chunks will smoulder and produce smoke without igniting into flame. Add 2-4 chunks for most smoking sessions, placing them in different areas so they ignite at different times for sustained smoke production.

In a snake or Minion method setup, distribute wood chunks along the unlit charcoal. As the fire progresses, it encounters and ignites the wood, providing smoke throughout the cook without intervention.

Using Wood Chips

Because chips burn so quickly, you'll need a strategy to extend their smoke production:

• Foil packet method: Wrap chips in aluminium foil, poke holes in the top, and place directly on coals. The foil slows combustion.
• Smoker box: Metal boxes designed to hold chips and placed on the charcoal grate. Not strictly necessary with charcoal but can help with smoke control.
• Frequent additions: Add small handfuls of chips every 15-20 minutes during the cook.

Achieving Clean Smoke

The quality of smoke matters as much as the wood type. "Good" smoke is thin, blue-tinged, and almost invisible. "Bad" smoke is thick, white, and billowing.

What Causes Bad Smoke

• Wood that's too wet or green (not properly seasoned)
• Insufficient airflow causing incomplete combustion
• Too much wood smothering the fire
• Dirty grill with old grease residue

Achieving Clean Smoke

• Use properly dried, seasoned wood
• Maintain good airflow through your grill
• Add wood gradually rather than all at once
• Allow a stable fire before adding smoking wood
• Keep the exhaust vent at least partially open

How Much Wood to Use

One of the most common beginner mistakes is using too much wood. Over-smoked food tastes bitter and acrid, ruining hours of work. Less is genuinely more when it comes to smoking wood.

As a general guideline:

• Light smoke (fish, poultry): 1-2 small chunks
• Medium smoke (pork): 2-3 medium chunks
• Heavy smoke (beef brisket): 3-4 chunks

Meat absorbs smoke most effectively during the first few hours of cooking when the surface is cool and moist. After the exterior sets and dries, smoke absorption diminishes significantly. This means you don't need to maintain heavy smoke throughout a 12-hour brisket cook—the first 3-4 hours do most of the work.

Blending Woods

Experienced pitmasters often blend woods to create custom flavour profiles. Some effective combinations:

• Oak + Cherry: Balanced flavour with beautiful colour. Great all-purpose blend.
• Hickory + Apple: Tempers hickory's intensity with apple's sweetness. Classic for pork.
• Pecan + Cherry: Rich, slightly sweet, very versatile.
• Mesquite + Oak: Tames mesquite while keeping its character. Good for beef.

Experiment with blends to develop your signature smoke profile. Keep notes on what combinations work well with different meats and cooking styles.

Wood selection is a creative aspect of smoking that allows you to put your personal stamp on your BBQ. Start with mild, forgiving woods while you learn, then gradually experiment with stronger options and blends. Over time, you'll develop preferences and intuitions that make your smoked meats distinctively yours.