AyersTG: Thanks for the kind thoughts, but I was using split pine logs that I bought from the local gas station. I don't think the wood was the problem, so it must have been the technique. <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> As I admit elsewhere, I was probably being too impatient, trying to "lay the fire down" before I had a good bed of coals built up.