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are scratching your heads and wondering what a “heaping handful” is. Well, it’s such a big handful that it’s falling out of your hand.
Form the kindling into a teepee. If you’re fortunate enough to have long, dry slivers of wood, place some dry pine needles or dry grass under and around the base of the teepee. Since we aren’t out in the woods, you can also use newspaper. And if you really want to veer from the authentic method of fire-building, you can pour a little olive oil on the newspaper, which will help it to burn better and longer.
Light the kindling. Once it is burning really well, place some slightly larger sticks over the smaller kindling, maintaining the teepee form. Continue adding larger and larger pieces of wood until you have a fire that is able to produce the heat you need in your smoker.
    Traditional method
Place two medium-sized (no more than 5 inches in diameter) pieces of wood parallel to each other on the bottom of the firebox, leaving about 8 inches between them.
Lay two slightly smaller pieces on top of and perpendicular to the first two. Build about four levels in this pattern, making sure the logs on each level are slightly smaller than the ones below them. This leaves an open area in the center that is about 8 inches square.
Place dry kindling, paper, and fire starters in this open central area.
Light the kindling. As it gets going, it will immediately begin working on the larger stuff, so you will get a bigger fire a little faster than with the Boy/Girl Scout method.
    Upside-down method
    This method—in which everything seems backwards—requires you to forget everything you think you know about building a fire.
Place four logs, each about 5 inches in diameter, on the bottom of the firebox as close to each other as possible.
On top of and perpendicular to the first layer, place four or five slightly smaller split logs very close together.
On top of the first two layers, place as many small sticks, each about 1½ inches in diameter, as will fit. The sticks should be perpendicular to the layer beneath.
Fold a section of newspaper in half and then in half again, and lay it flat on top of the wood. For a better burn, you can pour some olive oil on the paper.
Pile some very small kindling on top of the paper, then light the paper and wait for it all to happen. The paper starts burning and very quickly lights the kindling. Within just a few minutes the kindling is blazing and your job is done. I don’t know exactly why it works, but the kindling lights the wood below it, and that wood lights the next layer, and so on. This setup will burn for hours on end, unattended—happy news for anyone who wants a fire, whether that be in the smoker or in the fireplace.
    No matter which method you choose to build your fire, some practice is required to learn how much wood you should start with in order to maintain a 225° F to 240° F temperature in your smoker. Only experience can teach you that.
    Charcoal Fire
    Most of us have our own favorite ways of getting a charcoal fire started. When I was a child, it was always fun to watch my dad douse charcoal with an entire bottle of lighter fluid and then light a match and fling it onto the grill. He always had to jump back pretty quickly to avoid being left without eyebrows, beard, and arm hair for several weeks.
    While this is a common way to start a fire—and brings out the inner pyromaniac in all of us—it is not really the best, and is certainly not the safest, way to get the charcoal burning. I hope I can persuade you to use any of the following tools, which allow for much better and safer fire-starting methods.
    Charcoal chimney
    A charcoal chimney is a round metal device that resembles a coffee can with a large handle. Charcoal is placed in the top and newspaper in the bottom. When the newspaper is lit, it in turn lights the charcoal. Within just a few minutes the charcoal will be white hot and ready to pour into the firebox.
    Charcoal