Imported firewood?

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I am in central Pennsylvania, where firewood really does grow on trees in Penn's Woods. Outside our supermarket yesterday, I noticed a pile of bundles of firewood for sale. For $5.99 there is a bundle of USA grown firewood. For $2 more though, one can obtain Estonian White Birch firewood. I am certainly unaware of anything that makes it special, other than it was cut, split, kiln dried, packaged and transported across an ocean from one continent to another. So I ask myself, why would I pay $2 more for this special imported wood? Do the marshmallows toasted over it taste that much better? Is there some quality in the flame light that guarantees a lucky romantic evening by the fire? If I buy one to try it out, will I be eternally condemned by Greta Thunberg for depleting Estonian forests?

[David Dockstader]

I suppose there may be camping snobs who think anything imported is superior. Glamping, I guess. On the other hand, I think this falls under the category of "a fool and his money are soon parted."

[Roger Feeley]

I've never burnt anything like birch. Where I grew up in Kansas and here in the DC area, it's all oak, ash, and hickory. My gut impression is that birch would burn fast and dirty.
How would birch burn?

[Erik Loza]

I used to chop up the Felder pallets for firewood. Burn pretty clean and decently hot. White Birch, I believe.

erik

[Jon Nuckles]

Birch is often sold as firewood, but I can't imagine it is worth shipping from Estonia. Could it be a species of birch named for Estonia, but grown locally? Sort of like Baltic birch plywood?

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I've never burnt anything like birch. Where I grew up in Kansas and here in the DC area, it's all oak, ash, and hickory. My gut impression is that birch would burn fast and dirty.
How would birch burn?

When I was a kid we heated with wood, and always avoided birch because it was "stringy" when split. Oak, maple, etc. would split cleanly, but birch tended not to. I would assume it burns just fine though.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I've never burnt anything like birch. Where I grew up in Kansas and here in the DC area, it's all oak, ash, and hickory. My gut impression is that birch would burn fast and dirty.
How would birch burn?

Lots of firewood in N. Texas arrives from SE Oklahoma. When the load is delivered, it's traditional for the buyer to ask, "Is it all oak? Cuz' I only want oak." Standard answer from deliveryman, "It's all oak ...when it crosses the Red River."

...and pretty sure Oklahoma counts as 'imported'.

[Frank Pratt]

I would have a real problem buying something that was shipped half way across the world when the local version was right there, even if they were the same price.

[Jim Koepke]

Some woods burn faster, some slower. This just means the fire has to be tended more or less often.

To me all the different woods warm me quite a few times. They warm me up when it is being cut. They warm me up when packing it, cracking it and stacking it. Finally they all warm me up when they are carried into the house and burnt.

jtk

[Bill Dufour]

Around here Almond is viewed as a top quality firewood. Hardwoods are denser and burn slower with more heat per volume. Almond is good since it is not too old when cut. This means no huge pieces to split.
I liver in Modesto and burn a lot of Modesto ash from local street trees.
Bill D

[Timothy Thorpe Allen]

You've heard of Artisanal Firewood, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBb9O-aW4zI

[Stan Calow]

Maybe its cut-offs from wood that was imported for other uses. Heck, most people I know wouldn't even know what Estonia is, let alone think it would be exotic.

[Doug Dawson]

I am in central Pennsylvania, where firewood really does grow on trees in Penn's Woods. Outside our supermarket yesterday, I noticed a pile of bundles of firewood for sale. For $5.99 there is a bundle of USA grown firewood. For $2 more though, one can obtain Estonian White Birch firewood. I am certainly unaware of anything that makes it special, other than it was cut, split, kiln dried, packaged and transported across an ocean from one continent to another. So I ask myself, why would I pay $2 more for this special imported wood? Do the marshmallows toasted over it taste that much better? Is there some quality in the flame light that guarantees a lucky romantic evening by the fire? If I buy one to try it out, will I be eternally condemned by Greta Thunberg for depleting Estonian forests?

Do you have a Geiger counter?

[Mike Cutler]

Hmmmm,,,, sounds an awful like Ricardo Montalban and"Genuine Corinthian Leather".
Birch, white and grey, burns fast and hot. White and grey birch bark are excellent for starting fires and wood stoves. The wood splits to an almost sanded and scraped finish. It's shiny, where split, when dried and then split.
It works well for getting a stove box back up to temperature after a slow burn through the night. Toss in a layer of 1/4 split birch and put the oak, ash and, hickory on top of it.
I've been heating our house(s) since 1986 with a wood stove in Connecticut. I've probably burned a lot of "Estonian Birch" and never knew it.

[Mel Fulks]

Mike, funny stuff ! Ricardo might have been the only actor to never hear the director yell : "BIGGER !"