ABSTRACT
Fuels for a smoker should produce cool smoke and little deposit. Dried dung, decayed wood, grasses or suitable leaves were used, according to what was available. For many centuries, some hive beekeepers also used smoke containing a substance which temporarily narcotized bees (i.e. made them unconscious) and, at a higher concentration, would kill them - such as tobacco and puffball (Sections 34.3, 34.4). Smoke from brimstone (sulphur), much used for killing colonies in skeps before harvesting their honey, was recommended by Thomas Hill in 1568 for driving bees out of a hollow tree and into a hive.
