from: http://www.repp.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/Boyt/p...
The hot wood gasses are more easily examined if they can be kept separate from the combustion gasses of the fire. This can be done by cooking a small
quantity of wood in a test tube, and then cooling those gasses as they pass through a water bath (Figure 1). Cooling causes the creosotes, light oils,
water vapor, methanol, and many other chemicals to drop out of the gas. What remains is largely CO with small percentages of H2, CH4, CO2, N2 and
various other gasses that give it a very pungent odor. It burns with a pale blue flame, producing largely CO2.
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