while I prefer peach wood(i'm a Georgia born boy and I like the subtle flavor it gives the meat), it's not easy to come by living in Tx. mesquite, hickory, oak and pecan are all easy to get. of those, I prefer pecan. hickory and mesquite, in my opinion, are too strong and overpower the flavor of the meat. oak is useable and gives a decent smokey flavor to some meats, but I feel that pecan gives a better flavor/taste to anything it's used with than oak.