I know there have been post about what and how different people use their smokers. Today when I was at the store I picked up a couple bags of hickory chips for the smoker. Cost couple bucks a bag not to big a deal and I don't have any chips right now. But here is the thing. When I was just a kid messing around with a smoker. I used a lot of oak because it was handy. There was a hard wood saw mill not far from our house. So getting oak sawdust or what I used a lot back then was board ends. They even used to dump the slats and ends in a pile by the drive just for people to take. Some of them slats made great trap stakes.. They haven't given anything away in years that I'm aware of. I believe they fire their kiln with saw dust now don't waste much.
But anyway.
The chips I bought today are Hickory so hardwood. The oak I've used often over the years is hard wood. I know different woods have different flavors. Can there be that much difference though between oak and hickory? I'm really starting to think not?? Part of the reason I question it is because the hickory I had to buy. I have plenty of oak on my other property just have to remember to bring some home not make a special trip.. I also have some maples which I've cooked over that wood, but never used in smoker..Maybe should use that?
If a person wanted to get picky. I suppose you could say the make up of ground a tree grows in, could also make a difference in the taste of smoked meat or fish? Be like one them wine tasting things. I'm really wonder what folks think on the oak hickory comparison could probably question ash in there too???

Mac

I have friends down south thatll use any tree that "bears a nut", oak, hickory, pecan, etc.

Mulberry!!! Makes meat taste good & helps get rid of them weedy trees. I have always used it green, just use loppers to cut what ya want.
Dennis

I grill on mulberry at least once a week. It gives the best flavor of all the types of wood I have tried. If you cut the mulberry trees off in the Winter, they are big enough to use by the next Winter again. I fill my grill with slightly dry pieces up to 2 inches in diameter, but mostly a lot smaller. Light it, let it quickly burn to coals and cook on it.

Keith

I can certainly taste a big difference between Oak, Hickory, Pecan, Mesquite, Apple, Cherry, Peach, Etc... each adds their own unique flavor. They all can be good if used with the right meats, rubs, etc... For example try smoking chicken with 3 parts pecan & 1 part cherry. Brine it first and rub it with a light rub. You'll love it!!!

Myron Mixon, the winning-est man in BBQ competitions, used a lot of peach wood!

Not only do different wood taste different they cook at different temperature too. If your grilling its not that big a deal. your right there to see whats going on. if your using a covered smoker though your actially baking or roasting. a thermometer in the lid is pretty handy.

my favorite cooking wood is pinon. (pronounced pin-yun or pin-yone depending on what part of the world your in)

truth be told ive yet to cook meat on any natural wood fire I didn't like.

whoever said mulberry I like it too. use it often here in ks. lot to be said for a mesquite roots too.

I use apple wood for pork: Shoulders, Ribs, etc.
Mesquite: for brisket, tenderloin, etc. the flavor can be overpowering so It's only on for the 1st hour and then I add Hickory.
Pecan and Cherry once in a while.
I usually soak my chips and chunks overnight in water and sweet vermouth.

I'm using my Traeger more these days but if I'm going to be around to tend it, still enjoy wood smoking.

I have several mulberry trees in the yard- never tried it but I plan to now.

eagle eye its mesquite root you want. old dead ones. have to gather it yourself. I don't think you can buy it

Never tried mesquite root... I do a lot of woodworking with mesquite and use the chunks from cut-offs. I have some friends in AZ , I'll see if I can get a care package.

Eagle eye; I used some "mesquite" root once when I lived in Aridzona
Ha Ha ! Made everyone that ate the meat I smoked mouth lips and tongue go
NUMB! Turned out the wood was acacia "iron wood" a close cousin to mesquite.
Thorns bark leaves and even beans looked like the mesquite I grew up with in central Texas. Oh no!
Not the same tree at ALL!
Carob is a bean tree that cocoa substitute is made from used some to smoke with and it was delicious.
As posted earlier different woods for different meats. I like alder and cherry for fish Apple cherry pecan and hickory
for beef. Apple, and especially purple plum for birds. Bon Appetite!

Ha Ha ! Made everyone that ate the meat I smoked mouth lips and tongue go NUMB!

I might use that to my advantage during the Holiday Season- good to know.

A chunk or ten of this stuff is wonderful. It burns hot and fast. Will have nice coals relatively quickly in an open fire. In a smoker you can control airflow in you will need about 25% more wood than you will with hardwood like hickory. You can cut that down by using charcoal and just adding the pinon on top the charcoal to create smoke. I like to use 100% pinon. Has a distinctive aroma and flavor. Dead pinon is a good source for pitch pine or fat wood. Whichever term you prefer. Don't cook with the pitch pine. it has a lot of turpentine in it. Found at the base of the dead limbs and trunk where all the sap settled. Best tinder you will ever get though. you can light pitch pine with a match. when you go to sawing up your dead pinon you wont have any trouble sorting out the pitch pine from cooking/heating wood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyon_pine

When you get into a bunch of pinons the nuts are delicious. I have ate many a handful right off the ground. Some people make a kind of biscuit or small pancake with them. Shell the nuts out and run them through a hand operated meat grinder a few times. Electric would work too I'm sure. Add an equal amount of wheat flour to the pinons, some salt, a little powdered milk and enough water to make heavy dough like the consistency of a bread dough. Make little patties about the size of a cookie and fry them . Use a lot of margarine or lard. You want it deep in the skillet. it needs to be hot. Patties need to be kinda thin so they cook all the way through.

Not a lot of choices up here. My Grandad smoked 100 tullibees a day every day of summer 50 years ago when we had the fishery. He took the bark off of oak, used ash, but mostly any fruit wood. Apple wood , not common here, but he acquired it somehow. Tag Alder also works. No nut woods up here .

I've seen hickory flavored BBQ sauce and mesquite flavored too, but I've never seen oak. Must be some difference.

What kind of flavor does oak give?

i use mostly oak, hickory, peach and pear - b/c that what i have growing and handy nearby.

oak, IMO is milder than hickory

the fruit trees give a bit "sweeter" smoke flavor - each is different.

I've also used apple, cherry and maple. sugar maple being preferred to other maples.

this time of year, I like to buy the mixed nuts at the store and sit around the fire cracking and munching. I save up all my shells and will use just the shells for smoke too.

I also save up the hickory nuts from the yard in the tree and use them as well.

we dont have mesquite around here, unless you buy it - and I aint much on buying wood with so much free wood around. I will on occasssion buy it for smoking beef - nothing else but beef.

we used locust once and didnt care for it.
have not tried walnut - just doesnt seem like it would be good for smoking

In regard to the woods that you have access to:

Oak is great, It's maybe even the most commonly used wood for smoking. The connoisseurs claim it has its place for specific meats, but I use it for most anything. It has a nice flavor, but, not overpowering.

Maple is also a good smoking wood. You'll notice a lot of maple smoked bacon in the grocery stores.

Obviously your purchased hickory is a good smoking wood. It is just a bit stronger than the Oak or Maple.

Ash? I've never heard of it being used. While is ain't the same thing, I did once try "prickly ash" . It's a nuisance shrub that grows everywhere on my property. It smells great when it's cut. DON'T DO IT. I tried it with a couple eggs, as an experiment. One bite and my mouth and tongue started to burn

BBB
Like I said I've used the oak on lots different things. May have to do with how long you leave things to smoke or how you prep it. I've had a few people think it taste more bitter that the hickory, but only after they ask what it was smoked with. So I assume hickory to be more mellow?? Most time I don't think there is a difference hard wood being hardwood. What I've probably smoked the most with the oak is carp. Never had to many people ask what it's smoke with. I think most people just assume everyone smokes with hickory. I've used apple before just used pruning from trees in yard.
Now I can see where something like black walnut would be bitter. Even the saw dust when cutting it can get ya sometimes. Some woods to have natural toxins in them.

Mac

I use apple trimmings too. It is my go to for milder stuff, like smoked eggs. For those eggs, I interchangeably use apple, crabapple, and plum. While those are the only fruit woods I've used, I'd bet most any fruitwood would be fine.