DivotMaker
New member
I reached the point I needed to replenish my wood supply, so I thought I'd try something different. I was going to order some cherry and maple from SI, but the shipping was just too high (note to self: talk to Steve about that!). As many know, I've had favorable experiences with Fruitawood and Maine Grilling Woods, but wanted to see what else was out there. Smokinlicious was posted awhile back by Don (DONF) - "Has Anyone Used This Company?" Initially, I thought the prices seemed a bit high, but have to admit that I was wrong.
When I went to the site, Smokinlicious.com, I learned that they are a manufacturer, not just a reseller of wood. They only harvest trees from open forest areas in western New York and northern Pennsylvania, so they aren't "farmed" trees that are subjected to pesticides. Next, they only use the heartwood, so the chunks are 100% bark-free. The wood selection is a little more limited than the others out there, but they certainly carry all of my favorites.
I ordered a "1 cubic foot" box, with a mix of Wild Cherry, Sugar Maple, and Northern Hickory. I wasn't sure how much a cubic foot of chunks was, and boy, was I surprised! It's at least 20 lbs - but I haven't weight it yet. Needless to say, I'll get through a heckuva lot of smoking before this box runs out! The big 12" x 12" x 12" box was $39.24, with free FedEx shipping. More wood than Fruitawood, and reasonable, considering the quality of the wood.
Here's what really impressed me:
When I ordered, I totally missed the part about putting my 3 wood choices in the comments, or phone number section of the order screen. When I paid with PayPal, I was suddenly complete, with no selection! Yikes! So, I emailed my 3 choices to the customer service email...no big deal. This was Sunday.
What surprised me, was I got a reply from Donna, at Smokinlicious, within a 1/2 hour! She assured me that she got my choices, and would promptly ship on Monday. Wow. Customer service like Steve! I thought to myself, this might be a good relationship!
Donna and I emailed several times after this. I told her about SI, and how active our forum is, and learned a great deal about their company. Here's an excerpt from one of her emails:
"Honestly, we are such a busy manufacturing company that we don't visit forum sites. I know that sounds strange but the bulk of our wholesale customers our restaurants, resorts, and food producing commercial smokehouses so we tend to follow the culinary trades instead. I guess the points I would make to draw the primary difference between SmokinLicious and other wood suppliers is we ARE the manufacturer. No one else is processing our woods and we don't have any bark so temperature control is more apt to occur with our product rather than a bark-on supplier.
We don't offer every type of wood every known to be used in cooking as we admit to being a Northeast company and thus, not everything is native to our area. We elect to reduce the choices so we have full control of the process; we don't feel secure in accepting any wood that we don't have full history on."
I was impressed with the exchange, and honesty, of Donna! The wood arrived today, and is really nice. I was also impressed that they take a moisture reading, at time of shipping. The double-filet cuts are a little large, but I have to split most of what I get from the other sources, too. I'll work on them about offering 2-3 oz. chunks for us!
I look forward to trying this wood, and I'll definitely let you know what I think. Here's one more thing: I liked it that Donna had a tagline, at the bottom of her emails, that said "Customer Service isn'ta Department; it's an Attitude!" So far, seems to be the case!
When I went to the site, Smokinlicious.com, I learned that they are a manufacturer, not just a reseller of wood. They only harvest trees from open forest areas in western New York and northern Pennsylvania, so they aren't "farmed" trees that are subjected to pesticides. Next, they only use the heartwood, so the chunks are 100% bark-free. The wood selection is a little more limited than the others out there, but they certainly carry all of my favorites.
I ordered a "1 cubic foot" box, with a mix of Wild Cherry, Sugar Maple, and Northern Hickory. I wasn't sure how much a cubic foot of chunks was, and boy, was I surprised! It's at least 20 lbs - but I haven't weight it yet. Needless to say, I'll get through a heckuva lot of smoking before this box runs out! The big 12" x 12" x 12" box was $39.24, with free FedEx shipping. More wood than Fruitawood, and reasonable, considering the quality of the wood.
Here's what really impressed me:
When I ordered, I totally missed the part about putting my 3 wood choices in the comments, or phone number section of the order screen. When I paid with PayPal, I was suddenly complete, with no selection! Yikes! So, I emailed my 3 choices to the customer service email...no big deal. This was Sunday.
What surprised me, was I got a reply from Donna, at Smokinlicious, within a 1/2 hour! She assured me that she got my choices, and would promptly ship on Monday. Wow. Customer service like Steve! I thought to myself, this might be a good relationship!
Donna and I emailed several times after this. I told her about SI, and how active our forum is, and learned a great deal about their company. Here's an excerpt from one of her emails:
"Honestly, we are such a busy manufacturing company that we don't visit forum sites. I know that sounds strange but the bulk of our wholesale customers our restaurants, resorts, and food producing commercial smokehouses so we tend to follow the culinary trades instead. I guess the points I would make to draw the primary difference between SmokinLicious and other wood suppliers is we ARE the manufacturer. No one else is processing our woods and we don't have any bark so temperature control is more apt to occur with our product rather than a bark-on supplier.
We don't offer every type of wood every known to be used in cooking as we admit to being a Northeast company and thus, not everything is native to our area. We elect to reduce the choices so we have full control of the process; we don't feel secure in accepting any wood that we don't have full history on."
I was impressed with the exchange, and honesty, of Donna! The wood arrived today, and is really nice. I was also impressed that they take a moisture reading, at time of shipping. The double-filet cuts are a little large, but I have to split most of what I get from the other sources, too. I'll work on them about offering 2-3 oz. chunks for us!
I look forward to trying this wood, and I'll definitely let you know what I think. Here's one more thing: I liked it that Donna had a tagline, at the bottom of her emails, that said "Customer Service isn'ta Department; it's an Attitude!" So far, seems to be the case!
