As a relatively new beekeeper, I have not yet developed a great way to light a smoker consistently and keep it lit during my inspections. The FatBeeMan provides a great video showing how he lights a smoker and keeps it puffing nice white, cool smoke in this video:
Download YouTube Video | YouTube to MP3: Vixy
We don’t have pine needles and pone cones in my old urban bee yard, but now that I’m out in the country, I might give this a try.
As a former urban beekeeper, the best smoker fuel I used was “pet bedding,” the wood shavings used in hamster and other rodent cages. I light up the smoker with cardboard or paper, and then dump in the shavings until the smoker is filled to the top, puffing the smoker the whole time. Probably not the greatest method, but it’s the best I’ve done so far.
Fat Bee Man’s method is probably the best.
Here’s a lesson to be learned the hard way. I noticed you too lit your smoker while suited up in the broken comb video. I used to light my smoker while suited up until one day i got an ember stuck on the face of my veil which burnt a hole in it. Doh! It’s not big enough to allow a bee through but how stupid I felt afterwards.
@ Phillip – I bought 3 cubic metres of horse bedding from an equestrian shop (same stuff as pet bedding). I have enough to last me forever now