For many years, craftsman Jesse Horn was frustrated with the direction of the North American firewood industry:

Employees of Vancouver artisanal firewood company, Smoke & Flame, product testing some of their kindling. (CBC)

"Nowadays when people think of firewood they think of it being 'hog-tied' in plastic and sold for $5.99 at gas stations. To me this is wrong and it completely disrespects the wood."

To make things right, Horn started Smoke & Flame - North America's only premium, handcrafted firewood manufacturer. In his tiny shop in Vancouver, BC, he and an apprentice labour over perfect bundles of kindling, twigs, moss, and logs which sell for upwards of $1000 each.

According to Horn, people are not at all shocked by the sticker price: "My customers want to know that they're burning quality and they are happy to pay a little bit more to achieve that."

This Is That sent our cameras to Horn's shop to go behind the scenes at Smoke & Flame and learn how Horn makes his artisanal firewood.

This Is That Season 6 begins September 10, at 11:30am on CBC Radio.