Articles on bees
The bee is amazing. It can carry up to half its body weight in flight. That's a massive pay load for any airborne insect or animal.
They spend days collecting and foraging nectar and pollen and resins in order to keep the bee hive alive. Honeybees literally work themselves to death and have a lifespan of only about 35 days in the spring and summer time and this extends to about double that in the winter months due to lower activity.
How bees communicate is by touch and pheromones. They also make a dance which helps scout and forager bees tell them where the nectar is. Smoke works to calm bees down as it imitates the smoke of a fire. Fire destroys bee hives and it causes a natural reaction in bees to eat themselves silly on honey stored in the bee hive. Once they are so full they struggle to sting as their gut is too full to release the stinger. It doesn't mean they dont manage to defende themselves against beekeepers as not all of the bees usually get a chance to eat enough honey before beekeepers start opening the hive to do an inspection.
Bee smokers come in different styles and sizes and makes. Some are from stainless steel and plastic bellows and other bee smokers have leather bellows. Either way, their is no wrong bee smoker. Just as long as you are using smoke to calm bees it is best to be using a bee smoker.