Cocktail smokers

Search for a cocktail smoker and you get two things that work nothing alike. A smoke lid is a wooden or metal top that sits on the glass; you put a pinch of chips in the well, hit them with a torch, and let the smoke settle onto the drink for half a minute. A smoking gun is a battery-powered device with a fan and a hose that generates cold smoke and delivers it into a covered vessel.

The difference that matters is heat. A torch applies real flame a couple of inches above the drink, which warms the top of the pour slightly - usually irrelevant, occasionally not. A gun produces smoke away from the glass and pipes it in cold, so a stirred drink that you spent two minutes getting to temperature stays there.

The difference that people actually decide on is theater. A lid smokes in front of the person drinking it, takes under a minute, and needs nothing but butane. A gun is slower for one drink, more fiddly, and can smoke a decanter, a bag of ingredients or a plate of food - it is the more capable tool and the less charming one.

• Buy a lid if the smoked old fashioned is the point and you make one or two at a time. Fastest, cheapest, best at the table. Start with best cocktail smokers.
• Buy a gun if you want cold smoke, want to smoke more than a glass, or care that the drink does not warm. It is the only one of the three that earns drawer space outside the bar.
• Buy a box if you serve to a table and want an even, controlled smoke around a finished glass rather than a plume across the rim. It is the most presentable and by far the bulkiest.

Wood is the underrated variable. Most kits ship with four chips and most people only ever burn the oak. Cherry is noticeably sweeter and suits anything with a fruit component; apple is lighter and does not bully a lighter spirit; hickory is aggressive and can flatten a delicate drink entirely. Cocktail smoker wood chips guide covers which wood suits which drink.

One technique note that saves a lot of disappointment: over-smoking is the standard beginner error and it is not recoverable. Thirty seconds under a lid is usually plenty. If the first sip tastes like an ashtray rather than a campfire, you left it too long - how to use a cocktail smoker has the timings.