Only Upside To Emerald Ash Borer... (2024)

...is I have a couple dead trees on my yard, so I figured what the hell and cut up a few pieces to use as smoking wood. Very similar to oak but way more dense and it lasts longer, and the food is amazing. Been burning it for the past month or two. It's also free and I'm a cheap ass, so I don't think I'm going back to anything else. There are ash trees dropping like flies around here so I'll have an unlimited supply until long after I'm dead.

For you meat smokers out there in the upper midwest where the ash borer is killing all your trees, make lemonade out of lemons and give it a try. You'll like it.

Fryowa said:

...is I have a couple dead trees on my yard, so I figured what the hell and cut up a few pieces to use as smoking wood. Very similar to oak but way more dense and it lasts longer, and the food is amazing. Been burning it for the past month or two. It's also free and I'm a cheap ass, so I don't think I'm going back to anything else. There are ash trees dropping like flies around here so I'll have an unlimited supply until long after I'm dead.

For you meat smokers out there in the upper midwest where the ash borer is killing all your trees, make lemonade out of lemons and give it a try. You'll like it.

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Yum, even with the ash borers peppered in the meat.

MelroseHawkins said:

Yum, even with the ash borers peppered in the meat.

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The ash borers are long gone for a few years before the trees actually die

HuckFinn said:

I have three ash trees, each around 20+ years old and beautiful. I have had them treated every two years since the borer plague. Cost: $200 for all three, every other year. Worth it to me.

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I have one neighbor who's had great luck with treatment, and one who hasn't had any results. Same provider.

All I know is it makes great smoking wood and I'll never buy it again. It's between hickory and oak on the smoking scale, but what really blows my mind is how long it burns in a 250 degree smoker. It's way more dense than anything else I've used before.

Got a couple whole chickens to spatchco*ck for the weekend that I'm anxious to try it with. Haven't done any poultry yet.

Fryowa said:

I have one neighbor who's had great luck with treatment, and one who hasn't had any results. Same provider.

All I know is it makes great smoking wood and I'll never buy it again. It's between hickory and oak on the smoking scale, but what really blows my mind is how long it burns in a 250 degree smoker. It's way more dense than anything else I've used before.

Got a couple whole chickens to spatchco*ck for the weekend that I'm anxious to try it with. Haven't done any poultry yet.

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I wonder why nobody has really mentioned smoking with ash in the past, noting your positive results and how well it burns.

MelroseHawkins said:

I wonder why nobody has really mentioned smoking with ash in the past, noting your positive results and how well it burns.

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I did a little googling before I tried it and found there were a lot of folks on forums who use it in the upper midwest. I think there's two main reasons. One, the traditional woods in the south where smoking meat started regionally back in the day are oak/hickory/fruit woods. They're more common so everyone just continued with that. Second, ash trees are really starting to die at a rapid pace that's only going to get more rapid. My guess is that in 20 years there won't be a single live ash in the midwest. There wasn't a ton of dead ash wood around before, but now it's going to be everywhere.

In reality ash is almost identical to oak. Oak has a little bit prettier grain so it gets used for woodworking and floors more often and ash gets the red-headed step child effect. But at the end of the day they're just two very, very similar hardwoods. Add to it that ash tends to burn longer and I think it's actually better. Where we live up north here, you have to go looking for oak and pay decent money for it, ash is going to be free for the next couple decades.

Chickenlounge said:

Damn, we just had ours taken down last year. Probably 50-60 feet tall. Wish I would have thought of this!

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As Fry pointed out, it shouldn't be hard to find.