We lit up a dead Christmas tree that had been sitting outside one summer. We were so sure the cops would show up when someone saw the two story column of fire that thing made. The good part is that it was all over in about a minute.
How dry are we talking? Because burning furniture-grade EWP offcuts (~6% moisture content) is smoky as hell. It isn't the wood, at least not entire - it's the sap pockets and other crap.
(I have a wood shop, these are things relevant to my interests!)