How to Light a Beehive Smoker Quickly 

I hope this helps! I don't remember where I learned this method but it's a lot faster than starting with an empty smoker and building a fire on the inside. One side benefit (or downside, depending on your perspective) is that heating the sides of the smoker will discolor it and make it look like a well-used bee yard veteran. It probably does reduce the overall life of the smoker some, but I've been using this one for a couple years with no problem.

I'm fortunate in that I haven't yet had to deal with any bear damage. The best thing I've heard of to deal with bears is an electric fence. But once a bear has found the hives I've heard the fence is little protection. I have heard, though, that bears can be trained to avoid the fence (and the hives) if some peanut butter is rubbed on the fence. A few zaps on the nose can apparently convince a bear to keep clear.

I got the torch at Ace Hardware and yes, it has a push button ignitor. Lighting is as easy as turning on the gas and pressing the button.

If you keep the torch in the same place long enough, of course, the metal will begin to glow and eventually melt. Usually the fuel lights quickly enough that I remove the torch just as the metal starts to glow (or earlier) - basically I remove the torch as soon as I see smoke. I light my torch this way every time and am still using this same smoker for a third year.

@@SuburbanSodbuster Thanks so much! I am going to try it!