When I saw “Go Texan” on the box I was immediately suspect…of it being an incredible product. I’m concerned about the amount of bark but I’m not taking it off. I did have one terrible experience with bark on wood chunks that made the food inedible.
Wayne, I’ve bought that same product before, except it was their small hickory splits and not the chunks. They burned just fine and seemed to be a good product. I’ve never had a bad experience with bark before, so I don’t really pay it much mind. I think that stuff you bought is going to be just fine. I bought mine at Academy also.
I agree that bark isn’t a big issue, never had flavor issues burning it with splits. As to the big old box or big old bag of wood chunks, they tend to be made with kiln dried wood. If you can try to source naturally dried wood and stay away from the kiln dry products.
I think this has been talked about at length here Wayne but I just feel (no real scientific reasoning behind it) that wood should have a certain percentage of moisture in it to provide the smoke during combustion with the essential volatiles that flavor food. Kiln drying robs that moisture and also causes the wood to ignite and burn hotter and quicker with less smoldering that produces smoke. Again, that's what I've learned and do notice the difference in burning both.
Wood can be kiln dried to different moisture contents. For woodworking, thats 7% or 8%, but no guarantees. Wood for smoking is normally 13%-20% - or in that area. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong - please.) The above company sez theirs is dried to "below 20%". That could be good if it's not too far below 20%.
This guy does a pretty good job of explaining why naturally dried wood is probably better for smoking then kiln dried. Like many of us, it's relatively easy to go to the local store and pick up a bag of kiln dried wood chunks. The problem I've found is it's hard to tell the difference between say apple or cherry or pecan, they seem to produce the same result. Natural dried of the same species is going to include the natural now captured carbs and sugars that have not escaped from kiln drying thus producing more pronounced flavors. I guess what I'm saying, if you can source naturally seasoned wood, try to. Sometimes that's just not convenient to city folks like me, I get that.
As a woodworker who uses hardwoods exclusively, I have an endless supply of cut offs for smoking meat. Some is kiln dried, some air dried naturally depending on my source. The difference in the flavor between them is very noticeable. Particularly with the fruit woods.
+1 for bark not being an issue. I’ll typically remove it from my splits if it comes off easily. If it’s well attached I feel there’s nothing bad (rotting/mold) to foul up the flavor.
Naturally dried is my preference to keep the moisture levels up. Kiln dried isn’t “bad” in my experience, it simple burns hotter, faster, and produces slightly lighter smoke flavor.
Some guys in competition are specifically using the kiln dried because they're trying to do hot and fast, and keeping that fire blazing is important. They're also not worried about smoke flavor, as a very MILD smoke flavor with heavy seasoning/injections/glazes is more often successful in the BBQ competition world. So I've been told, I don't compete - others here might be able to comment better, I'm just repeating crap I've heard.
Oh... well, maybe that just makes me a gossip-monger.
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