I have used pine straw and it works good but builds up burnt tar on the inside of your smoker, I started using something else, "Cardboard",,,,, cut cardboard in 8 inch wide strips and role the strip up tightly, you want enough of a roll to just fit in the smoker, get a piece of paper and light it on fire and put in the smoker, hold the role of cardboard just over the fire till the bottom has been lite, then push it in the smoker and close the top, I have had this cardboard smoke for about 1-2 hours in the small smoker....