Plum Wood Chips for Smoking, 250ml Pack

For anyone smoking drinks that have structure. On an aged whisky, on an amaro or on a drink built with sweet vermouth and bitters, a delicate wood is swallowed by the ingredients and the smoking becomes a gesture with no result.

Because the smoke has to compete with what is already in the glass. An aged spirit brings vanilla, toast and cask wood with it, which is exactly the family of sensations smoke belongs to: if the smoke is too light it merges into the background and vanishes. Plum chips have the body to come through, which is why they are the choice at the top end of a list.

• Wood: plum
• Intensity: the fullest in the range
• Format: 250ml pack
• Use: burn chamber of a smoking gun
• Weight: 0.2kg

The risk, and it is real

Masking. A full wood on a light drink does not complete it: it replaces it, and what reaches the guest is a glass that tastes of smoke and nothing else. With plum chips it pays to halve the contact time against a delicate wood, and to start at thirty or forty seconds under the cloche instead of two minutes. You can always smoke again; you cannot take it away.

What they work with

Aged rum and whisky, mezcal, amari, drinks with sweet vermouth and bitters. They also work on chocolate and coffee cocktails, where the toasted note of the smoke finds something similar to lean on. On a pale, citrus-led drink, another wood is the right call.

How much to use

A pinch, chamber half full, as with every wood. Excess wood smothers the burn and gives an acrid smoke: with an already full wood the fault compounds, and the result is the ash note that ruins the drink.

Smoke as an ingredient, not an effect

One thing tells them apart: if taking the smoke away leaves the drink standing, simply less interesting, the smoke was an ingredient; if without the smoke the drink makes no sense, it was an effect. With plum chips it is easy to slide into the second case, because the aroma is strong and takes the stage at once. The test is to taste the cocktail before and after, and ask whether the smoke added something or replaced it.

Storage

Closed and dry, away from the sink and the dishwasher. Damp wood does not burn: it steams, smokes badly and leaves an off smell that carries into the glass.

FAQ

How strong are plum wood chips? They are the fullest in the range.

Which drinks are they for? Aged rum and whisky, mezcal, amari and chocolate or coffee cocktails.

How long should I smoke for? Less than with other woods: thirty or forty seconds is enough to start.

Do they suit fresh drinks? Better not: they would cover the citrus profile.

Can they be mixed with a delicate wood? Yes, and that is how they are softened: one part plum to two parts apple gives a full smoke that does not take over.

The more you buy, the less you pay: 4 pieces -5%, 6 -7%, 8 -10%, on the same item.

Dispatched from Rome, Italy. 15-day returns, free of charge. Questions before you order? Message us on WhatsApp on +39 351 929 6937.

The other woods and the smoking guns are in the smoking category.