It took me some time to get my smoker to work well and not burn out just as you get into the hive. I had tried several fuels from cotton, pine nettles and pellets. What works best for me is twine. I ball up 30 feet of it and light it with a propane torch. It is cheap, simple and easy. One ball will last just over one hive inspection and then I put in the next one. 
I built a stand to hold the frames as remove the capping wax. Each frame 2-3 lbs and akward and sticky, so this really helped in the process.
Here is a good photo of the bees filling a gap with propolis. In the photo you see the brown goo between the lower hive body and the queen seperator. Propolis is a resinous mixture from tree sap and other plant extracts they collect. Click the photo to get a better look.
Of the three hives I have, one of them has bees of a darker color. They both are honey bees, but of a slightly differnt type. The light color is an Itilian Honeybee and the darker one is most likly Carniolan. The queen bees must be from these types of honey bees so all the worker are of they type.