🔥 This episode is sponsored by Harder Charcoal & Exhibit Supply! 🔥

Stories From the Smoke returns to the Country Style Cook-Off in Blenheim, South Carolina.

In Episode 5, “Keeping the Fire,” we sit down with Cordin Wood of Wood Family Q and Dr. Howard Conyers for two conversations connected by family, community, history and the traditions that continue to shape barbecue.

Cordin Wood takes us inside his first year competing at Country Style—from the preparation required to compete to developing new flavors and building Wood Family Q alongside his family. He also explains why the fellowship surrounding Country Style keeps bringing him back and why growth should never come at the expense of what makes the event special.

Then Dr. Howard Conyers takes the conversation back generations. Conyers discusses the role Black communities played in preserving whole-animal and whole-hog barbecue traditions, historic trench cooking across the South, the people whose contributions have been overlooked, and why documenting that history matters—especially in an era when misinformation can spread quickly.

For Conyers, Country Style represents something bigger than barbecue: fellowship, culture and community—a Southern family reunion built around the smoke.

Stories From the Smoke | Episode 5: Keeping the Fire

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00:00 Stories From the Smoke: Keeping the Fire

01:14 Cordin Wood: First Time at Country Style

02:18 Preparation Is Everything

03:10 Creating New BBQ Flavors

05:19 Building Wood Family Q as a Family

07:01 Why Country Style Keeps Him Coming Back

08:39 Growing Without Losing the Culture

09:10 What’s Next for Wood Family Q

12:01 Introducing Dr. Howard Conyers

13:14 Dr. Howard Conyers

14:30 The Black History of American Barbecue

15:15 Trench Barbecue Across the South

16:35 Preserving the Whole-Hog Tradition

18:49 The Gentrification of Barbecue

19:54 Country Style: Our Own Memphis in May

20:49 BBQ History in the Age of AI

21:45 Barbecue, Moonshine & the Stories Still Untold

23:25 Community, Ownership & Working Together

24:48 Country Style Is a Family Reunion

26:25 The Importance of Doing Your Due Diligence

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