Smoke is one of the beekeeper's lines of defense, in addition to knowledge and protective clothing!

Most beekeepers use a smoker - a device designed to generate smoke from the incomplete combustion of various fuels.

The smoke produced is a cool, white smoke that calms the bees, without scorching them. It initiates a feeding response in anticipation of possible hive abandonment due to fire.

In addition, the smoke masks alarm pheromones released by guard bees or when bees are squashed during an inspection. The smoke and ensuing confusion creates an opportunity for the beekeeper to open the hive and work without triggering a defensive reaction from the bees.

Types of Fuel
There are many types of fuel that can be used in a smoker as long as it is natural and not contaminated with harmful substances. Popular fuels include twine (non-treated), burlap (non-treated), dried pine needles, cardboard (free of ink and labels), wood/cedar chips,  compressed cotton and sumac berries.

I personally use the dried pine needles, although the last item, sumac berries is of interest to me, as it's been said that the smoke created from burning sumac berries can cause the mites to drop from the bees. Which, if effective, is a great integrated pest management tool to have.

Lighting the Smoker
When lighting a smoker, I have my hive tool handy to pack fuel into the smoker.  It's a lot better to use a hive tool than burn my hands!



To begin, I crumple a small bit of newspaper into a ball and light it.


Once it's lit, I drop it into the smoker. Alternatively, you could place the newspaper into the smoker and use a long handle lighter and reach in and light it there.



I use the hive tool to pack the newspaper in towards the bottom, gently puffing the bellows to ensure the flame stays going.


Once the paper is lit, I place dried pine needles into the smoker.
While packing in the pine needles, gently puff the bellows. You can see in the picture below there is a lot of smoke already rising from the canister.


One suggestion that I've heard and seems to work well for me is to really pack the fuel (whatever fuel you use) into the smoker nice and tight. 

Loosely packed fuel will burn too quickly, and leave you with no smoke half way through an inspection, whereas tightly packed fuel will smolder longer, creating a thicker smoke for a longer period of time.



Once you've packed in your fuel, pumping the bellows to ensure the smoker is still smoldering, close the lid and allow the top of the smoker to act as a chimney and draw the smoke out of the smoker, thereby keeping the smolder going.




When you're finished using the smoker, if there is unburnt fuel in the smoker, you can suffocate the smoker with a cork, grass or other instrument inserted into the top of the smoker.  This will allow the smoker to burn out, and you can re-use the fuel for your next inspection.

If you don't succeed in lighting your smoker the first time, or it burns out within a few minutes, don't get frustrated, just dump out the fuel, and try again.

It's a good idea to practice lighting and keeping the smoker lit before needing to use it during an inspection.

If you have any suggestions for fuels, best practices, etc., please leave them in the comments section!