The defensive behavior of Africanized honey bees demonstrate considerable variation between colonies and stinging episodes are probably to happen in the handling, but not always predictable. The colonies present behaviors of sensitivity to the slightest disturbance in the surroundings, as well as odor or vibration, specially in Brazil, because It has Africanized honey bees with extremely defensive behavior. The handling techniques are necessarily in constant evolution, and the use of the bee smoker is essential, even though the the beekeeper has considered the colonie calm. The use of different materials of vegetable origin in the bee smoker provides different results, some more effective than others. Therefore, this paper tested the smoke resulting from the burning of: angelim, cupiúba, eucalyptus leaves and unidentified wood shavings, with and without the addition of honney bee wax and dried eucalyptus leaves in the handling of Africanized honey bees. Is was selected 3 (three) of the defensivest hives, selected by the Stort method, from the experimental apiary of the Center for Agrarian Sciences of UFRR. Defensiveness variables were tested with each fuel, in triplicate, and statistically compared. The fuels demonstrated different results for all the variables studied and the addition of wax dreg and dried eucalyptus leaves represented a slight improvement in the defensive response. The shavings presented a good result when compared to the others fuels, and it was considered the best fuel for the bee smoker, in terms of cost-effectiveness, for local beekeepers.
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