Overheard a pro at the Georgia State BBQ Championship say something that stuck with me

I was walking past the competitor tents at the Georgia State BBQ Championship last Saturday and caught two pitmasters talking. One of them said he quit using pecan wood after he split a batch of it and found it was full of pine beetles. He said the bugs got into the wood and made the smoke taste bitter and almost chemical. I thought about all the times I bought wood from random roadside sellers without checking it closely. Now I look every log over before I put it in the smoker. Has anyone else run into bad wood from a dealer you thought was solid?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbaraschmidt17d ago

Did that guy say anything about how he figured out it was pine beetles specifically? I mean, I check my wood for mold or rot but I never thought about bugs inside the log. Was there a certain smell or look to the bark that tipped him off? That could save a lot of folks from ruining a good cook if we knew what to watch for.

paige_west17d ago

Did he mention the little white sap spots? That's how I found out the hard way lol.