smokeless

[BlueBee]

Parts of the Appalachian forest gives off a lot of aromatic hydrocarbons (yes Trees do pollute!), mix in thermal inversions in the atmosphere and you have a prescription for some pretty poor air quality out there in the country!  They don't call them the blue ridge mountains for nothin'.  That haze you see isn't exactly fresh air  :-D

[joebrown]

Well I will inhale that mountain air any day of the week without hesitation. Nothing feels better on my lungs than a good dose of mountain air on a cool morning. I have two words that I would use to describe someone who worries about the air of the Blue Ridge Mountains 1) hypochondriac  and or 2) germaphobe. :evil:

[BlueBee]

Ha ha, you might be right Joe   ;)  

I have spent some time in those mountains, and I do agree that it is very beautiful down there.

[TwoHoneys]

I've come to the conclusion that getting that smoker lit and cooly puffing is as good for me as it is for the bees. It's good for me to slow down, and lighting the smoker and nurturing a good cloud from it serves as a perfect transition from the rush rush rush of my daily life (well, I'm not really that busy, but you know what I mean) to the calmer behaviors appreciated by the bees.

I wouldn't dream of working bees without a lit smoker...it's part of the whole sensory experience for me (Also, I love the patina taken on by my Rauchboy smoker, and I like to deepen it as often as I possible!).

-Liz

[iddee]

No, frameshift, I haven't tried other methods. I am content to have read 30 plus years of other's attempts. As Micheal Bush said, he's tried many and always came back to smoke. He's not the first one I've read about, and I doubt will be the last. As he said above, most problems people have with smoke is, they use toooo much. I smoke lightly in the entrance of 4 or 5 hives, then a light fan of smoke over the top of each one as I open it. That's all that is needed 99% of the time