Based on several comments on two or three different Thai Visa Chiang Mai threads, I went to Muang Mai market and bought some bundles of lychee wood.

It's good looking stuff, dark red, splintery, and looks very dry, but when I got it home, it wouldn't burn.

The final test was building a roaring charcoal fire in the barbecue and throwing on a piece of lychee.

It never really caught on fire. And again, this wood appears to very dry.

Is this wood for smoking meat? Anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks

Can't be real lychee wood then. The real deal burns well, even when green - with a bit of encouragement. Also lychee wood is what is used for making most of the charcoal that you buy in the markets

Lychee wood is not really that dark a red. Trees behind our house are cut back/down now and then, and a friend has recently bought Lychee wood for his new pizza oven. Not dark red.

I use lumiyai [sp?] which is in the same family as Lychee for smoking meats and the color is a light red and it burns and smokes great with a nice flavor.

Thanks for the replies.

Light red is a better description of the wood. (It looked dark red in the dark shop)

But my real questions after putting it on top of raging hot coals and getting this is ...

Wrong wood or wet wood?

Lynchee, coconut husks and corn cob is my mix in the smokehouse.

You may want to try longan wood which is readily available here. I have had excellent results with it and also coconut husks as mentioned in an earlier post.

TAke the bark off and dry for about 1 month if it is 3" thick. Make sure that mold doesn't grow on it while drying. Can use chips or chunks. Put Chunks directly on the charcoal, put chips in a pan touching the coals. Don't let the wood burn completely. YOu don't want big white clouds of smoke. You want it to smolder slightly.

Lynchee, coconut husks and corn cob is my mix in the smokehouse.

BawBae, Are you an experienced smoker with a smokehouse here in Chiang Mai?

Would you be willing to smoke a nice slab of salmon fillet for me? (You can PM me.)

Thanks!

I have a small orchard of 36 lumyai trees (which is longan in English not to be confused with another local fruit called longon) and use the wood from trimming my trees for smoking and making charcoal. Both come out great!