Smoker vs. Furnace in Minecraft: Differences & Which Is Better

Food and smelting are a vital part of Minecraft, at least if you play in Survival mode. In order to progress, you’re going to have to employ various blocks and tools in order to fulfill your needs. You’re going to need a steady source of ores as well as food. Food will keep you alive and restore your health, and well, ores are needed for pretty much everything else. When it comes to preparing food and smelting ores, we have several options at our disposal, and two of those options are smokers and furnaces. Players short on materials to build both are often wondering when it comes to smoker and furnace, what are the differences and which is better.

Furnace is used to smelt most types of blocks

A furnace is a utility block in Minecraft that allows you to smelt most types of block. That means that it can be used for preparing food and smelting ores. A furnace can also be used as a light source because it emits a light level of 13.
Furnaces can be crafted with 8x any stone-tier blocks. For example, you can craft a furnace by combining 8x cobblestone blocks. Furnaces can also be obtained while you’re exploring villages, if there’s a weaponsmith in the villager, you can bet you’re going to run into at least one furnace.

When it comes to utility furnaces are an absolute must as they can smelt most types of blocks. On average, the furnace smelts 6 items per minute. The amount of items that can be smelted depends on the type of fuel you are using in your furnace. The only downside when it comes to furnaces is the fact that they are quite slow to smelt things, especially when compared to smokers and blast furnaces.

Smoker is used for preparing food

A smoker is a utility block in Minecraft used for preparing food. Besides smelting food, a smoker can be used as a light source just like furnaces due to emitting a light level of 13. Smokers can be crafted by combining 4x logs of any type and a 1x furnace as a smoker is considered an upgraded furnace.
If you can’t craft a smoker the traditional way, you can always come across one while you’re exploring villages. Smokers serve as job site blocks for butchers, so if you plan on looking for one, your best place to check is your local butcher.

When we compare the smelting speeds of smokers and furnaces, the speed of a smoker is superior. This, however, does not affect the amount of fuel you will speed as the fuel per food cooked ratio remains the same.

Smoker vs Furnace, what are the differences?

The main difference between a smoker and a furnace is the fact that a smoker can only smelt food. A smoker is considered to be an upgraded form of the furnace but only when it comes to food. Yes, you will be able to smelt food rapidly, but you will end up using the same amount of food and you will not be able to smelt ores. If you plan on ditching your regular old furnace for a smoker, don’t do it. Especially if you plan on smelting ores in the future.

Smoker or Furnace which is better?

A furnace is the better utility block due to having the ability to smell almost all items in the game. A furnace is slow but it uses the same amount of fuel as a smoker and you can throw pretty much anything in it. If you’re short on materials stick with the furnace, at least in the beginning. There’s always an option of finding both a smoker and a furnace in your nearby village and stealing both.

How does a blast furnace compare to a smoker and regular furnace?

A blast furnace is a counterpart to a smoker. A blast furnace is able to smelt ores, metals, and tools rather quickly but it can’t smelt anything else.
A blast furnace is considered to be an armorer’s job site block and can be acquired through crafting and villages as well. Blast furnaces, furnaces, and smokers all use the same amount of fuel but the furnace is the slowest of all smelter blocks.
A blast furnace can be crafted by combining 5x iron ingots 1x furnace and 3x smooth stone.

The combination of the smoker and a blast furnace is the only real replacement for a regular furnace since in that case, you get two blocks with the ability to smelt both foods and metals twice as fast.
I need to mention once again, however, that all blocks can easily be acquired in villages, so there’s really no need to sacrifice your furnace.

To sum everything up both the smoker and furnace smelt blocks. The difference is that you can feed anything into a furnace while a smoker will only deal with food. If you need to choose between the two utility blocks, always go for the furnace. Once when you’ve made enough progress that you can comfortably craft most blocks in the game, you can replace the furnace with a blast furnace and smoker. The same amount of fuel will be spent while you’re smelting blocks but it will be done twice as fast when compared to a furnace.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!