I sold a few bundles of cherry wood to a customer for his friend to use in a smoker. I have maybe a face cord of seasoned cherry and decided to sell them in bundle form rather than in firewood bundles/cordage. I dont think smoking is common in my part of the country but decided to give it a shot. My question: what is a good price per bundle for smoker wood? These are .75 cubic feet or 9x9x16" which is the same size as the bundles seen for sale in front of gas stations/convenience stores. I sold my customer four bundles for $25, which is too cheap IMO but he is a good customer.
I fire up my smoker several times a year. But, I use charcoal, with a few chunks of hickory, or fruit wood. $25 seems reasonable. Niche market in new england.
TRUE. I normally get $5 per bundle of wood when i sell in bulk retail...10/$50. My customer asked about smoking wood so i obliged. Dont have any seasoned hickory though.
There is a small market for smoker wood here. They always want shagbark hickory. I have a couple cord drying but I think I’ll hang on to it. It’s hard for me to come by. They specify it has to be shagbark! No pignut! Lol
Oh heaven's no.. That'll be $1,975 with discounts. Edit.. Please enter your zip code for shipping costs.
"I dont think smoking is common in my part of the country" I think I'm insulted. Aside from myself, I know lots & lots of dedicated, die hard smokers. In my castle, it is unlawful to cook certain things indoors, I don't care if I'm standing in three feet of snow in front of the grill. For the purpose & for the added trouble of sorting out specific woods, special stacking & bundling, I'd say you aren't being very fair to yourself at that price. But I hear ya about it being a favor to a good customer. Cherry especially is a prime smoking wood. I don't know about others, probably dependent on the type of smoker used, but I wouldn't be looking for seasoned wood for smoking. More often than not, I'm soaking it in a bucket of water before putting it in. But I don't have one of those dedicated smokers, just a charcoal grill that becomes a smoker by technique.
What do you think would be a fair per bundle price? I did the 4/$25 as a favor to him. I was more in the $10/bundle price for an "MSRP" or 6/$50??? I really didnt separate by species, but had some dry cherry splits in the pile i was using and more in the current one as well. Usually ill mix "one year seasoning" hardwood together. Oak, hickory, locust get the multi year stack. I was referring to smokers with the HUGE grills, not the small barrel type like i have.
Also, be aware of smoking snobs that will want to know what kind of bar oil you used. Snobs will want to know that you used some kind of vegetable oil, because petroleum oil will taint their food.
I've never sold smokewood but I have on occasion supplied the local bbq/brewery with cherry. It was a good deal, so long as they were smoking with the wood that I supplied, I drank beer for free. It has been a while though. My tree guys have not brought me much cherry lately and the last little bit that I did get had evidence of a PI vine being on it before it was cut. If you want to price your wood look online for what they sell it for. If you want to raise the value, debark and cut/split it into fist size chunks.
Your $10/ bundle, 6/50 sounds good. Give it a try. I know a feller that has cherry, hickory, pecan cooking/smoking wood...had the deer hunters from FLA that got the trailer load of fire pit wood asked about 1/3 cord of all cherry, quoted them $100...
I have bundles on CL with the prior photo for that price. Just listed last week. I know folks smoke on small grills, but dont know about larger units unless a restaurant.
Keep trying, brother. I was tickled when the guy said firepit wood was fine and gave me $200 for that load of cull wood. Still have plenty for us to burn...
Brad I sold cherry wood last year as HOLIDAY firewood on FB Marketplace. 6 cubic feet for $20. I sold out fast.
I was thinking about it, I picked up a bunch of cherry last spring, gave some to a neighbor. Had some hickory too at least it smelled like it. I'm still trying to figure out/learn the bark on that one.
I tried selling smoking wood and kept hickory separated. People with smokers burn such a small amount a year that a 5 gallon pail would last 2 years. I use apple mostly myself but 2 fist sized chunks are plenty for a cook. I found smoke wood not to be worth it. I cut a fair amount of hickory but no one was willing to pay more for 100% hickory so not it is just mixed in with the Red & White Oak. Some cherry finds its way into the stacks too.
Took this pic for ya while I was out hunting this morning of a shagbark. Note the small tree to the left. Also shagbark but only a few years old. The limbs on a mature tree aren't as shaggy as the trunk.
