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I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley east of LA and have many memories of smudge pots.
A friend of my mother's grew oranges and avocados in Glendora and Azusa. They are both very frost sensitive and eleven year old me was the perfect 3 AM pot tender. At least later, in high school, I got paid and there had friends who joined in and I wasn't the only stinky kid in class on cold mornings.
The row upon row of flames in the misty (smudgy) dark always made me think of camped Roman legions.
Any kind of oil was used, with impurities making better smoke. Each pot had a serious dead zone around it and the storage areas were smelly wastelands.
After they were replaced by other techniques, the old ones could be seen lined up in dumps of thousands.
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