Independent comparisons. We may earn from shop links. More info

Smoking wood chips buying guide: wood, grams, form

Updated: 23 October 2026

You are at a lidded gas or charcoal barbecue, and the bags on amazon.co.uk all promise smoke. A smoking wood chips buying guide is the order of choices before brand: how long the cook is, which wood you want, whether the pieces are chips or chunks, then how many grams you are buying. The eight bags in the [smoking chips comparison](/hub/grill-accessories/smoking-chips) were captured between about £7.49 and £9.19, a narrow shelf band until you divide by weight. This page does not name a top pick. Peter F. checked those listings and the UK guides on 20 October 2026, not a lab cook. A purchase through our links may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are at a lidded gas or charcoal barbecue, and the bags on amazon.co.uk all promise smoke.

Our top picks

Weber Weber whiskey oak smoking chips, 700 g

Best overall

Weber Weber whiskey oak smoking chips, 700 g
9.4/10about £8.00
View offer
Weber Weber apple smoking chips, 700 g

Alternative

Weber Weber apple smoking chips, 700 g
9.3/10about £9.01
View offer
Woodabrix Woodabrix hickory smoking chips, 800 g

Best value

Woodabrix Woodabrix hickory smoking chips, 800 g
9.0/10about £9.19
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Chips, chunks or pellets
  2. 2.Which wood for which food
  3. 3.Grams, litres and price
  4. 4.What the listing must agree on

Chips, chunks or pellets

Chips are a short smoke, not the fuel that cooks the meat. Weber’s UK guide puts them at about 20 minutes and moves you to chunks once the cook runs an hour or more. Smoke & Soil, as a seller rather than a test lab, describes fingernail-size chips, a small handful, and a 20–30 minute rule of thumb. That covers burgers or a spatchcock chicken. It does not cover a brisket you leave alone. Chunks smoulder longer than a flake. Pellets belong in a pellet cooker and were taken out of this comparison, with cocktail kits and a standalone smoker box. Weber’s apple title says chips and the form field says Chunk. Treat that as a conflict. Painted, stained or pressure-treated timber does not belong on food.

Which wood for which food

Fruit woods sit at the mild end. Exstream’s pairing page puts apple with poultry, pork and ham. Hickory sits at the strong end: bacon-like, and easy to overdo until the meat tastes bitter. Oak is usually the middle ground, but this set has no plain oak chip. Oak appears only with a whiskey scent line. Cherry is the other fruit option, Woodabrix titled 800 g with a weight field of 760 g. Apple on Weber and on Green Olive both drift towards chunk wording. Chicken or salmon usually wants the milder bag. Pork and beef can take hickory if the dose stays small. Which listing is that wood is on hickory vs apple wood chips.
Weber Weber whiskey oak smoking chips, 700 g

Testsieger

Weber Weber whiskey oak smoking chips, 700 g
9.4/10about £8.00
View offer

Grams, litres and price

Shelf price is a weak guide. Exstream hickory is about £7.49 at a stated 360 g, about £20.81 per kilogram. Woodabrix hickory is about £9.19 for a stated 800 g, about £11.49 per kilogram, more wood per pound than Weber hickory at about £8.19 for 700 g. Weber whiskey oak is about £8.00 for 700 g, about £11.43 per kilogram. A 1 litre claim can still be the lightest pack once the grams are printed. Woodabrix prints 3.2 litres, and reviewers dispute it. Green Olive apple says 780 g against a title of about 800 g. Whiskey oak’s dimension line says 580 g, about £15.50 per kilogram, against about £11.24 on the title weight. Use the gram line you can defend.

What the listing must agree on

The title, the weight, the material and the form should describe the same product. Weber apple, B0167A9RXC, is titled apple wood chips, 700 g at about £9.01, mild and fruity for fish, poultry and vegetables, while the form field says Chunk. Green Olive apple, B07C342TLX, opens mild, then later bullets switch to chunks, about 800 g against a 780 g line. Green Olive whiskey oak, B097YCRFPH, splits about 800 g against 580 g, and its 4.4 from 212 matches the apple ASIN, including apple smoke chips. That is not a whiskey tasting. Woodabrix cherry, B08MD63Z2T, is titled 800 g, item weight 760 g, and the material field only says wood. Burning them is wood chips on a gas barbecue.

Common questions

Are smoking chips the same as chunks?
No. Chips are the small pieces Weber’s UK guide ties to about 20 minutes of smoke. Chunks are the larger pieces that same guide points to once a cook runs an hour or more. A title that says chips and a form field that says Chunk is a conflict. You should not assume the bag contains both sizes in useful amounts.
Will a chip bag last a brisket?
Not as one load. A handful of chips is a short smoke, about 20–30 minutes in the Weber guide and in Smoke & Soil’s seller note. A brisket needs hours, so you would reload chips repeatedly or switch to chunks. Chips are the wrong format if you want to shut the lid and leave the cook.
Is the £7.49 bag the cheap hickory?
It is the lowest shelf price, not the lowest price per kilogram. Exstream hickory, B09XVM4GWQ, is about £7.49 for a stated 360 g, about £20.81 per kilogram. Woodabrix hickory at about £9.19 for 800 g is about £11.49 per kilogram. Compare the gram line before you treat the smaller ticket as the bargain.
Hickory, apple or cherry for a first bag?
For chicken or fish, start with apple or cherry, which the pairing pages treat as mild. For pork or beef, when you want a stronger smoke, hickory is the usual first strong wood, with the limit that too much tastes bitter. This set has no unscented oak chip if you wanted a middle wood without a whiskey line on the label.
What does whiskey oak mean on the label?
On these listings it means oak with a whiskey scent claim, not a poured measure of whiskey in the bag. Weber 17627 states oak wood and a whiskey scent, 700 g at about £8.00. Green Olive’s line says oak barrel wood chips. Its review file collides with the apple ASIN, so those comments are not evidence of a whiskey flavour. If reviews call the pieces sawdust, that is a size fault: flakes can be gone in under a minute, including after a soak.

Related pages

Best smoking chips

Smoking chips

Wood chips on a gas barbecue: one burner, lid shut

Hickory vs apple wood chips for chicken, pork, fish

How to use wood chips on a BBQ: handful, soak, foil

Sources

Public UK sources used for this comparison. Listing prices, stars, and review counts are from the amazon.co.uk captures for these eight bags. The score is not a laboratory taste test.

  1. Food Standards Agency — Cooking your food (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  2. Food Standards Agency — BBQ food safety (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  3. Food Standards Agency — Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  4. GOV.UK — Benzo[a]pyrene or PAHs (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  5. Codex CAC/RCP 68-2009 — reduction of food contamination (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  6. Wood Protection Association — do not burn treated timber (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  7. Weber UK — a guide to smoking (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  8. Napoleon UK — do you need to soak wood chips (retrieved 22.10.2026)