Long burning cherry wood - normal?

[PBCDad]

A while back I picked up a load of cherry wood from an orchard in preparation for my soon-to-be-delivered stick burner. I now have more wood than I can see myself using in the near future, so the past two times we've used our little fire pit, I've brought out a couple knotty solid and rounds.

What I've noticed though is it burns super long and there isn't much of a flame, it just seems to progressively coal through the thickness instead of lighting up like firewood I picked up at the store. For example, one round maybe 6" thick at a main split in the tree (so no way I could split it with an axe, hence volunteering it for the fire pit) had now lasted through two 3+ hour fires and the bark away from the fire side doesn't look burned at all. Here's a picture of the two sides this morning:





My first thought was that this is great, I'll need a lot less wood in the smoker and have to tend it much less frequently. My second thought though was wondering if it would even catch fire in a restricted air environment, or will I need to pair it with a faster burning wood, or chop it into kindling and feed the fire more often? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[EdF]

This isn't specifically about cherry, but your experience seems consistent with what's in his wood table: http://www.kbq.us/wood-selection/

Given that he says it's great for coal formation, you should be in good shape.

[Huskee]

If you have a lot of that happening with your stash, I highly recommend pre-burning your wood before a cook.

[kmhfive]

My first thought is that the larger pieces haven't dried enough. Your splits should dry faster.

[PBCDad]

Thanks for the responses. The guy that sold it to me told me they'd been sitting out in the air for the past 4-5 years, and I have no reason not to believe him. I also was checking out the smoke as they were burning and it wasn't much and it smelled fine, so I don't think it is green wood.

My main concern is them lighting and not dying out once in the firebox with the door closed. I guess there's one way to know for sure. I will use the pre-burning when convenient, but seems like a whole lot of work if it isn't necessary.