Fire wood or open fire - almost without smoke
I'd like to refer to "YouTube - properly cheer". I am 74 years old and have been burning wood fire in wood-burning stoves for years and always following the principle "down paper / cardboard - thin chips / wood - stronger pieces of wood".
The right thing to do is: compact, thicker, thicker pieces of wood at the bottom - four thinner boards / pieces of wood (two and two crossways) - depending on the weather, between 1 - 3 lighters (waxed shavings, etc.) and then light. The fire then burns from top to bottom. The smoke and gases are combusted by the flames.