Steven Raichlen Best of Barbecue Wine Barrel Stave Bundles

We love these. My husband loves using the smoker and these added a great taste to salmon as well as steaks. I don't know why these would be discontinued as they really are awesome. We will be buying a few more of these to stock up before they're all gone.

I order these bundles in sets of two, as there is nothing better to use in my electric smoker! Unlike chips, and even chunks, which are less dense and can burn rather than smoke, giving meat an acrid taste, these staves smoke well without attention, and give the meat a great taste. I use a bandsaw to cut the long pieces into quarters to better fit in the smoker. When you compare how long each bundle lasts, and compare the price to the cost of other wood for smoking, it is a great (and tasty!) buy.

We had these for over a year and hadn't gotten around to even trying them..boy what a mistake. My husband cooked some strips steaks using this the other night and it was pretty phenomenal. I think these would be good for chicken or pork too. Id recommend them for your regular cuts..as it adds a nice flavor. Probably not for filets..those are a bit too delicate to carry so much flavor. Seriously..really tasty.Get some.

I bought these to give more flavor to my aged meads. I cut each stave into thirds, baked them wrapped in foil at 400 F for two hours, and then used 1/3 stave per gallon of mead. So far, the flavors are melding nicely, and the high ABV of the drink is mellowing thanks to the oak aging process. I would recommend this to anyone thinking of using it to age homemade wine or mead.

These are great. I picked them up at a local store who no longer carries them. Amazon to the rescue! You can cut these up into smaller pieces if just cooking for a small family or leave the bigger piece on if you are cooking more food. We put them right on the gas grill and all food (even ears of corn, veggies in a grill basket) come out with a fabulous wine flavor. Highly recommended!

only used 1 so far.

Too pricey. I wouldn't, and didn't buy these for bbq. For my purposes, they're cut into too many pieces. Leave them full-width.

not enough wood for the money; no particular benifit [wine] hickory, apple,cherry or any other common smoking wood produces great bbq for a whole lot less money will not buy again