I know the preferred oak for smoking meats is post oak but is there a huge difference in post vs plain old live oak? Here in west central Texas I have plenty of mature live oak but no post oak. I love the way the live oak smells in the fire place but have not smoked with it yet. Let me know what y'all think.

Live oak is great IMHO. Sometimes I'll add a little mesquite.

I have both on our property and have smoked with both. Couldn't tell all that much difference to be honest with you. The live oak maybe a little more astringent. Aaron Franklin swears by post oak, but what does he know? Go with what you have and don't look back.

Live oak will be just fine. Make sure it is well seasoned.

Only issue Ive ever had with live oak is a mold/fungus that seems to like it more so than Pecan. I usually keep at least a cord of wood laying around, & while I prefer Pecan for smoking I use plenty of Oak too (live & post). The mold will grow while seasoning sometimes. The mold seems to be a tad more common on the live oak. This is purely anecdotal from my point of view, and its really not a big deal; i just clean it off with a wire brush before I burn it. You just have to be mindful of it when you're loading the firebox.

Pretty minor "negative" imo. Happy smokin!

I use live oak all the time as it's what I have the most access to. Use it and don't think twice, no issues with it and something smoked in it will taste very similar to post oak.

I always use live oak as a base and then add pecan. Live oak burns snow and hot

I typically use Live Oak too, because that is what I get from the trees trimmed in my neighborhood. I also pick up pecan and peach wood. All smoke just fine.

Although not ideal to me, live oak works. I usually add some mesquite to it or pecan.

Live oak trimmings here are plentiful, so that is about all I smoke with. Never had any issues with it.

I've used both red oak and live oak, never had an issue with flavor from either. Biggest issue I've noticed is the mold/fungus as mentioned above. Since they produce spores, it makes me worry about putting it I to the smoker.

I use pecan because there are 2 large ones in my backyard and it's really available, but mesquite is still my favorite smoke flavor.

Somewhere between very few people and no one at all will be able to taste the difference between live oak and post oak, depending on how you cook.

I get wood from wherever I can get it, and keep the red oak and pecan separated from the rest of the oak, which I just refer to as "white oak". Live oak is great smoking wood.