Where to Find Wood Chunks for Smoking

[EarlyBird]

All,

I'm purchasing a Smokenator to convert my 22" Weber kettle grill into a smoker, to try my hand at some ribs and brisket this summer. The go-to smoking wood is apple, hickory, oak, etc., but ideally it is in chunks, not chips.

I can find wood chips at home and garden stores in LA, but not chunks of wood. Any idea of where I should look?

Thanks.

Smokily yours,

[Clinton]

In the past I have found in large plastic bags both hickory and mesquite wood chips at the 99 Cent Stores for less than a buck. I have enough wood now to smoke a moose. Might be a seasonal thing?

[EarlyBird]

I've actually had better luck with finding chips, than chunks. Speaking of the 99 Cents Store, I have a bad of hickory chips right now from there.

[foodiemahoodie]

Whitt Wood Yard on Sepulveda.
Santa Monica Firewood on Lincoln
Marina Firewood on Lincoln
Wild Fire Firewood in Santa Monica (also on Lincoln).

Try this...

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&...

[EarlyBird]

Thansk. I'll check them out. I've used Whitt's Woodyard for firewood before, but they didn't have any smoking wood, at least the year or so since I checked.

[EarlyBird]

All, thanks for the leads. Last time I was at Home Depot, etc., I couldn't find chunks, but I'll try again. There is that firewood store on Pico where I've bought firewood before and they provide wonderful service, but they didn't know a source for hardwood for smokers.

I'll try the big box hardware stores again.

[Servorg]

If you are really having a tough time there is always: http://www.charcoalstore.com/c4500/Wo... although I don't know what their shipping charges would be.

[ebethsdad]

There is a Barbecues Galore store at 11021 W. Pico Blvd. They carry several types of wood chunks including hickory, apple, pecan and mesquite. Oak is hard to find. gordo26 mentioned this earlier.

[gordo26]

Bbq galore has the best variety of wood chunks and wood chips.

[caliking]

If you have a Do It Best network hardware store in your area, you can order different types of chunks (free delivery to a local store) from doitbest.com. i think you can find a participating store from the website.

[meadandale]

Concur. They usually carry both the chips and chunks in Cherry, Apple, Hickory, Pecan and Peach (possibly more). I use the chips in the smoker box in my gas grill but I use the chunks in my smoker when I'm using plan charcoal.

[pharmnerd]

I've searched in past. Aside from online, will usually end up at BBQ Galore. They typically have both chips & chunks for the most popular woods (hickory, apple, cherry, oak, etc) at a fair price.

I think I've seen chunks at some big box stores (Walmart? Home Depot? Lowes?), esp during summer, but very limited selection (maybe hickory and/or mesquite only).

[Hughlipton]

I would be hard pressed to recognize anything other than red foak chunks which can be easily obtained over the internet by googling red oak chunks. It is the wood of choice for Santa Maria BBQ and imparts an outstanding flavor to ribs, steaks and tri-tip. You can get chips from Suzie Q seasonings but even if you don't want the chips the seasoning itself is wonderful and of course availability to the pinquito beans that made Central Coast BBQs IMHO the best in the country tying Texas.

[piyopiyo]

During grilling season Home Depot (and probably Lowe's) carries a pretty big selection. Over the weekend I saw four or five kinds including apple and cherry. It's in the aisle with the grills.

[JAB]

I've seen chunks as well as chips in the home and garden stores etc...

[LATrapp]

If the smoke wood has a lot of exterior bark like in the photo linked above, I'm a little worried (maybe unnecessarily paranoid) about pesticides potentially being smoked into my meats. So I try and make sure if possible that it comes from an organic source. Sometimes tricky at a home or garden supply, but worth the try. At the very least, it's always good to soak or rinse off your smoking wood

[EarlyBird]

I understand from reading copious amount of BBQ related material that you don't want to use the bark, because it contains resins that impart bitterness and other nastiness.

[Sam D.]

I would suggest doing a web search for "firewood in Los Angeles" and then making some calls to see if they have the kind of wood chunks that you want.

[dclay]

Southbay firewood carries several varieties of chunks.

http://www.southbayfirewood.com/

Also the woodpile next to JNJ BBQ on Adams often has small pieces, but usually only oak.

http://jnj-bbq.com/

[EarlyBird]

OOh! Oak is my preference, and I don't live that far from JNJ.

Thanks for the leads, all!

[taiwanesesmalleats]

One of the apple vendors at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market on Saturday sells apple wood chunks. It's $5/bag but I'm not sure how it weighs.

[TonyC]

The apple wood being sold by Ha's Apple Farm:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/20...

[LATrapp]

I bought a bag of that this past weekend. Usually you want your smoke wood to be somewhat aged if not kiln dried. His chunks (as you can see in the picture of your link) are fresh cut.

[Servorg]

http://www.cbbqa.org/forum/index.php?...