Abington, PA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Chapter 65, Burning, of the Abington Township Code defines BARBEQUE broadly under Section 65-1 to include propane or natural-gas-fueled grills, charcoal grills, pellet-fueled grills, wood-fueled grills, and smoking devices. Because a smoker falls inside that definition, it is regulated the same way as a backyard grill rather than treated as a separate open-burning appliance, and it does not need a burning permit.

The chapter's operative standard is a nuisance test rather than a flat ban. Section 65-1 defines EXCESSIVE SMOKE/ODORS as smoke or odor that is perceptible beyond the property line of the source and that, in the opinion of an Abington Township Police Officer or the Fire Marshal, causes an unreasonable interference with a neighbor's use and enjoyment of their property. Section 65-3B(4) applies that same reasoning to fires set for grilling, broiling or barbecuing: the exception from the open-burning ban holds only as long as the fire is not noxious, hazardous or excessive by reason of smoke, odor, sparks, embers or hot ash.

Enforcement runs through Section 65-2, which gives any Abington Township police officer, the Fire Marshal, or another agent authorized by the Board of Commissioners the power to order the immediate cessation of a violation or to order a fire, cooking or barbeque immediately extinguished, abated, diminished or corrected. There is no separate permit process or size limit for smokers themselves under this chapter; the constraint is entirely the smoke and odor nuisance standard applied case by case.