Local source for bbq/smoking wood - NoVA/DC

[Cocinero Cubano]

All -

I'm cross posting this on the home cooking board.

I plan to smoke a nice seven pound pork butt this weekend and would like to find some good wood to use. I thought some nice apple, cherry, white oak or something similar.

Can anyone suggest a good source in NoVA - Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church preferrably - or even DC? I do have a few bags of wood chips and can get more of those quite easily, but I thought it'd be fun to use whole chunks.

My thanks.

Cocinero Cubano

[jbart]

Based on this posting, I went to Village Hardware on Fox Hunt in Alexandria. The store cellar was hard to find, but it had an excellent selection of chunks and chips. And the store people were very helpful. I bought several large bags weighing probably 15 pounds. Somewhat pricey at $19 per large bag, but each one should last awhile. Gotta be at least 40-50 chunks per bag.

The drive was 45 minutes from DC, however, so I would like to find a closer source. The main brand carried by Village Hardware is Maine Grilling Woods. Evidently you can order directly from the company - just google the company name - and even get free shipping. Prices tend to run $13 per bag or less if you buy three bags at a time.

Maine Grilling Woods carries Hickory, Mesquite, Black Cherry, Sugar Maple, Acadian Oak, Wild Apple, Olive, Nutwood, White Cedar and Alder. The only wood I wanted that it did not sell in chunks was pecan. The store does sell pecan chips, though.

[dcgdc]

strosniders and wagshals have good selections of smoking wood. you can buy weber brand smoking chips at the giant in van ness and probably most other grocery stores

[tommyskitchen]

Villiage Hardware on Fort Hunt in Alexandria - It is my local Mom-n-Pop store that I'd rather go to as opposed to HD or Lowes.

I've been frequenting them for 6 years now, and always saw a couple of bags of chips - I never noticed the sign "Go downstairs to see more smokers" or such until the other day. Needless to say, I was in heaven - the entire basement was smokers, BBQs, accessories, and smoking chips and chunks.

They had hard-to-find parts for my Weber propane, a cover I needed for my kettle, numerous Big Green Eggs (if you don't know what that is, google it - I've heard raves about them but have not taken the plunge myself)

Most of all, they had the best selection of smoker chips and chunks I have ever seen - All sort of flavors: Mesquite, hickory, Wild Apple, cherry, alder, etc - In sawdust and chunk form. I even picked up a bag of chips made out of Jack Daniels barrels. The only flavor I did not see was Grape Vine - Can't wait to find that again.

Tommy

[4X4]

Have you tried any hardware stores?

[Cocinero Cubano]

No, but a few are on my list. Thanks for the suggestion.