Update: There is more information on “Moonshiners” on Fire Critic. Tim Smith spoke with Rhett Fleitz about the show and shared some insight. Check out the information here.
A Virginia Fire Chief has found fame in a brand new show on the Discovery Channel. The show “Moonshiners” follows around Tim Smith as he shows the life of a moonshiner.
Tim Smith is also the Fire Chief of the Climax Volunteer Fire Department in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He has been the Chief since 2004. The department runs just over 100 calls per year. Smith also spent 6 years in the United States Army. Tim’s wife Shelby is also a member of the department.
Apparently, the show does not show any actual distilling of liqour.
“Nobody in the whole series was actually making any liquor, we wouldn’t allow that. If we knew somebody was making liquor they would have been in the next episode in handcuffs,” said Jesse Tate.
Photo from the Discovery Channel
Tim was featured on the History channel in 2007 for his expertise in making moonshine.
Tim’s son JT is also featured on “Moonshiners” and hopes to become a junior firefighter in the future.
Local coverage on the show “Moonshiners” here , here and here
Moonshine Making Comeback in Virginia
You can catch the show Moonshiners on the Discovery Channel on Tuesdays at 10pm.
What do you think of the show?
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I think the Climax Volunteer Fire Department should vote their chief out of office and the fire dept,also call the ATF and tell them he this person is. I am with an vol squad
and I think he is giving his dept and others an black eye for what he is doing.
anything outside of the dept. is his business and who does not like shine anyways
DId you see tim stop what they were doing in the middle of the night when they were setting up?? he risked another trip away from the still site,possibly exposeing it to run a fire call. He has guts, and is a man
They were making real liquor. Of course they will not confess to actually making it since the video is pretty incriminating.
Notice in the middle of the article above “Nobody in the whole series was actually making any liquor, we wouldn’t allow that. If we knew somebody was making liquor they would have been in the next episode in handcuffs,” said Jesse Tate.
It is just a group of actors pretending to hide from the law. Perhaps, the scenes where the ABC officer is making a bust is real, but knowing Discovery, who knows.
if they can make a fake show about this subject, then i could make one about picking up dog poop and properly disposing it!!!
he should be arrested, what a discrace, if hes not selling off liquor he’s a fraud, and if he is, he’s a criminal. some fire cheif
Didnt they have a show on about some dudes “river logging” or something where the people pulled up some old petrified logs from the river bottom, and some authorities saw the show and later arrested the people on the show for “loggin without a permit?”
How are these “moonshiners” doing this without getting arrested??
The show is redneck bullshit. Any law abiding citizen wouldn’t be the fire chief and running moonshine in a tv show in today’s society. Oh , I’m sorry ,it is happening. The Discovery Channel needs to dump this crap.
Chatham , Va is getting a black eye from the Redneck Moonies.
Can they bring the still to the Emmy’s. They’ll get an award for the best
Redneck Chemistry Class on Tv.
It’s FAKED! It’s not real.
Tim does not make moonshine he is an expert historian on the subject and he is a vol firman. The show could do a lot better to explain this but what they are doing is making hype about the show. I fell bad for Tim as he is getting undue preasure from being a content historian and getting sucked into the TV biz. Stop calling for his removal he is a good guy and the show…like all shows on TV is fictional! Reality show are no more real them the WWF in the 80s…sorry to let that cat out of the bag too….
Whether it’s real, fake or just acting, it is highly inappropriate to depict a public safety official, much less a Chief Officer, manufacturing alcohol illegally. This reflects extremely poorly on the department, the region it was filmed in, and especially on the people participating directly in it. Especially when, in the first episode, the insinuation was made of using firearms as a means of defending the illegal activities being performed while trespassing on another person’s property.
Yes moonshining happens, yes its rural Virginia, and yes it’s a volunteer department. It’s still illegal.
You’re a Chief. Use your brain. Don’t go on national television to do something stupid.
Come on people It’s television ! With the way the economy is it’s hard to beleive that more people aren’t mooonshiners ! $50.00 a gallon count me in ! Fire Chief or not you have to do whatever it takes to make a living in this day and time !
Redneck Bullshit give me a break !
As a former law enforcement officer, I am highly offended that there is even a perception of Chief Tim Smith operating outside the boundaries of the law. Even if it is a hobby!
The validation that bootleggers and moonshiners help found and sustain the government and is part of our heritage is later debunked with their evasion of reported income for taxes, violating the property of others, destroying the environment for personal gain, and constantly placing their community in a position of risk rather than health.
This show is trash! Anyone in a position of leadership and entrusted with the responsibility of the safety of others should not be allowed to demonstrate the poor judgment Mr. Tim Smith has shown. Firefighters very often work hand in hand with law enforcement. Officers should not have to worry if the poor judgment of Mr. Tim Smith and his subordinates are victimizing those in need of assistance (i.e. stealing from a home during a fire).
Mr. Tim Smith is a poor example to all firefighters out there and Discovery should be ashamed of their contribution to this criminal enterprise!
9/11 did a lot to show the sacrifice our first responders like myself make day in and day out. Mr. Tim Smith does not deserve to be among those charged with these duties.
There is no argument to these facts.
1. He’s operating illegally if he is in fact manufacturing alcohol
2. He’s putting others in danger when they consume it
3. He’s putting the environment in danger with byproduct waste and threats of fire
4. He evades a contribution to his community and government by generating income and evading taxes
5. He places other legal businesses in a position of disadvantage because of his activities which hinders community growth
6. His actions draws resources from local, state, and federal agencies (the gov’t)
I watched the show tonight for the first time. It looks staged. I wanted to like the show but I don’t know. I didn’t think too highly of it.
It’s faked. Obviously. If you think otherwise you are a gullible fool. Keep enjoying Jerry Springer and professional wrasslin’.
I think its funny that you people get so worked up over a tv show. You must really be into it, haha. Herman is discussing all the things Tim is doing and none of them are real. He’s making a tv show about moonshining which is his passion and he is doing nothing illegal while doing it. It’s not like the guy is out there setting houses on fire or blowing things up which would be a direct opposite of his fire duties. It’s like saying police shouldn’t speed because of their position, but how many police officers break that law daily both on and off duty.
Find a real issue to get involved with like the future of our country and the way our congressional/presidiential leaders are driving America into the mud.
I knew it was fake when they disclosed where Tim worked and when he pretended to put together a new car engine from scratch. That was funny. You could tell that ‘building a car from scratch’ was just a way of the show playing into the old Moonshiner history of Nascar. You can’t out-run helicopters these days with a fast car, so that was just silly. Do you think anyone would let their face or their workplace be put on TV weekly if it was real? Geeesh.. Discovery Channel REALLY sucks. Should be DiscoverFakeTV Channel. Ok, I’m off to watch Goldrush now… lol Just kidding. It sucks too.
i am also a fireman and an emt. Tim is in no wrong in what he is doing. it isnt real and if it was he would have never agreed to do a tv show. it isnt hurting his department although it may have helped it. the only reason Discovery showed he was the chief was to show that moonshiners are not just backwoods hicks that do nothing but illegal activities. people would be surprised of all the things that illegal stuff has contributed to success in this country (although its not very successful at the present) and as far as the tax evasion part of moonshining the government are crooks anyway instead of helping communities and citizens they encourage laziness and sorriness giving our hard earned tax money to sorry lazy able bodied people for doing nothing but making babies and criminals in jail.
also if “Tim’ was an average moonshiner making $50000 of shine per year at $40 per gallon he would be making 1250 gallons per yer in Va. the tax is $0.38 per gal. and federal tax is 13.50 per gallon so he would be cheating his state out of $475 in taxes and the federal government out of $16,875 for a total tax evasion of 17,350. the average moonshiner sent to prison gets 10 years and in Va. the average per prisoner incarceration cost is $29,000. This means that sending “Tim” to prison would cost the Government $11,650 per year than the taxes he owed kinda beats the point of sending him to jail doesnt it
tickle here.
i’m lit up every episode.
shine on.
Tickle here again, yeah.
The show might be fake but we are recreating past runs weve actually done unlike dog chasin bad check skips actin like thats real scary. Chasin 99 lb girls isnt nothin big.oh and ps the cop side of the show is 100% REAL!
If you don’t like it , you can always turn off your TV….
Let me assure you it’s real. I live in Pittslyvania County. And Tim is a real person that actually works for the fire dept. they are not actors .
The show is great and I look forward to watching it. I am sure that the Discovery Channel employs poetic license to make the show BUT…nothing but alcohol makes a hydrometer calculate content. I watched as a batch was checked and regulated. Can’t fake that.
Tim is obviously very sharp and Tickle is the consumate sidekick. Keep it up.
Actually, that’s not true. A hydrometer measures the density of a liquid, not alcohol content. Homebrewers use hydrometers to measure the specific gravity of wort *before* fermentation, in addition to afterwards, and can calculate the alcohol content by the difference of the two measurements.
Some of you people need to develop a sense of humor… Show is great, fun to watch. Get a grip…
I thank people need to lay off. Its our heritage our past n will always bubble all the way down I’m a vol firefighter and what I do on my time just like Tim is done away from the scene. So shut up grab a jar n try it and come on back and tell use what you thank again
I tried some shine while in the army outside of Ft.Jackson,South Carolina back in 1961 and I still have a headache.Never touched it again.
I am sick of people saying that I am a firefighter and what I do on my own time is my business. This is where you are wrong. As a professional firefighter, who started as a volunteer over 10 years ago, I assure you that what you do on your own time still reflects on your department. How many times have you walked into a store and some kid recognizes you as their local fireman? A little common sense goes a long way! Some of us are very proud of our profession, be it career or volunteer, and do not appreciate it being defiled in such a manner. I do not care if this show is real or fake; it is an absolute insult to both Fire and Police professionals.
First: Total respect for Fire, Police, Military and Teachers.
These are all jobs required, that I can’t do.
Tim: I hope you get what you need for the department.
Popcorn: God will let you build a new still.
Tickle: Pass me a beer.
TV is entertainment, life is real…
I think most red blooded americans (except for maybe herman)would find jesse tate of the abc to be the bad guy.There is to many government agencys and to many assholes willing to seek out jobs that consist of nothing but screwing with other people.
I love the show. The government wastes so much time and effort trying to catch these guys. Why don’t they go after real dangerous criminals? Because of $$$$$$$. There’s no money catching real crooks, but try to make something yourself and sell it without the government and they will pay a whole task force to find you.
It looks like plenty of hard work and effort. The moonshiners are very intelligent.
Jesse looks like a feral hog. Not impressed with him at all. Jesse, your beard does not hide the fact that you don’t have a chin.
Tim, Pickle and JT best wishes to you! I hope your dream of going legit happens for you. If I were rich, I’d back you myself.
Sorry, I mean Tim, Tickle and JT – best wishes to all of you!!! Thank you for a great show. Hope all your dreams come true!!!!!
Our country relies far too much on the imprisonment of non-violent “criminals” as punishment. We made a wrong turn as a free country when we began to allow the privatization of our prisons. Think about it, corporations are making billions of dollars annually because people are locked up, and keeping their cells full is what makes their share holders happy and furthers their wealth (rehabilitation only reduces the chances of them making even more money in the future, and currently the US has more citizens behind bars than China and Russia COMBINED). These corporations then turn to lobbying firms to legally, but immorally influence the creation of laws, the enforcement of those laws, harsher punishments and even preventing laws from being abolished. Laws that the majority (“we, the people”) wish to have abolished. In other words, a number of US laws exist just to create less competition, or even create a new market for big business in this country. Just like the primary private financial supporter of Prohibition was the Standard Oil Company. They pushed to make alcohol illegal, by “influencing” our elected officials, hoping to prevent ethanol from ever competing with fossil fuels. Our system is consistently guided by the greed of few, and the few are determined by the amount of money they have access to. It’s wrong, Just like the pharmaceutical companies influencing your doctor (in the form of “spiffs”) to prescribe you medications for illnesses that could be treated with vitamins and/or natural remedies that have no unwanted side effects…. And this is legal.
I bring forward these factors to show that just because there is a law allowing or disallowing an activity , it doesn’t mean that law is just. I do agree that the improper production of moonshine can cause death, but so can the reckless imprisonment of non-violent citizens, citizens that normally would not be subject to rooming with murderers and rapists, or leaving their families to fend for them selves for years at a time. By making something illegal, you create criminals, a black market and the greater possibility of dangerous concoctions (like marijuana soaked in diesel fuel or moonshine cut with bleach).
Just like the “Moonshiner’s” show depicts, for the “little guy” to start a legal alcohol business, from a trade that’s been in one’s family for over 100 years, you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to (possibly) get permission to get started, when reasonable regulation, inspection of their product and an umbrella insurance policy (not a $200,000.00 bond) could allow an American to start a life long dream..
As for Tim needing to be stripped of his position as a firefighter, that’s ludicrous. He’s a proud man that, regardless of his family’s tradition being illegal, cares for his fellow man, and gives his time and risks his life to help others. If that’s not American, then what is?
“If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Owner of a still, a hemp plantation and a founding father.
“Herman” (14th from the top) can lick the bottom of my ball$. Way up under there. Just cause you got paid to be an a$$****, doesn’t make you a good person. And because he cheats on his taxes, that means he’s gonna steal from a home during a fire? How many times you write off more than you spent on uniforms? I bet you claimed the max every year and I know you had side jobs for cash that you didn’t claim. I know, my grandfather was on the force for 32 years, and I just paid two officers to “watch my wedding” and they only accepted cash. I bet that means you would steal from a dead woman. Not very popular in your early years I take it. Not all laws are right and some ruin lives. Don’t feel too good about yourself, and try to remember not only the people you helped, but the non-violent people and their families who’s lives you jacked up and felt good about.
Read the post above by “Patrick”.
Our country relies far too much on the imprisonment of non-violent “criminals” as a punishment. We made a wrong turn as a free country when we began to allow the privatization of our prisons. Think about it, corporations are making billions of dollars annually because people are locked up, and keeping their cells full is what makes their share holders happy and furthers their wealth (rehabilitation only reduces the chances of them making even more money in the future). These corporations then turn to lobbying firms to influence the creation of stricter laws and even preventing laws from being abolished. Laws that the majority (“we, the people”) wish to have abolished. In other words, a number of US laws exist just to create less competition, or even create a new market for big business in this country. Just like the primary private financial supporter of Prohibition was the Standard Oil Company. They pushed to make alcohol illegal, by “influencing” our elected officials, hoping to prevent ethanol from ever competing with fossil fuels. Our system is consistently guided by the greed of few, and the few are determined by the amount of money they have access to. It’s wrong, Just like the pharmaceutical companies influencing your doctor (in the form of “spiffs”) to prescribe you medications for illnesses that could be treated with vitamins and/or natural cures that have no unwanted side effects…. And it’s legal.
I bring forward these factors to show that just because there is a law, it doesn’t mean it’s a just law. I agree that the improper production of moonshine can cause death, but so can the reckless imprisonment of non-violent citizens, citizens that normally would not subject themselves to rooming with murderers and rapists, or leaving their families to fend for them selves for years at a time. By making something illegal, you create criminals, a black market and the greater possibility of dangerous concoctions (like marijuana soaked in diesel fuel or moonshine cut with bleach).
Just like the “Moonshiner’s” show depicts, for the “little guy” to start a legal alcohol business, from a trade that’s been in one’s family for over 100 years, you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to (possibly) get permission to get started, when reasonable regulation, inspection of their product and an umbrella insurance policy (not a $200,000.00 bond) could allow an American to start a life long dream..
As for Tim needing to be stripped of his position as a firefighter, that’s ludicrous. He’s an American that, regardless of his family’s tradition being illegal, cares for his fellow man, and gives his time and risks his life to help others. If that’s not American, then what is?
“If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Fake or not-Tim is Hot!
Look everyone I watched the same show you did. This is just a TV show about the daily life of a moonshiner. It has excitement, entertainment, drama, some historical background and just enough good script writing to make it interesting and appear real enough to hold your interest. If anyone even thought for a minute that this was really taking place as a current event and actual employing the actual actors in their actual real life, one would have to think you are easily fooled.
Personally, I can hardly wait to see the next series of this show. After all it does provide a little look into a small part of our culture, that be it not for this show, most of us would ever know the kind of life a moonshiner lives.
RJ
ps: If you want to enjoy a show, just enjoy it. Don’t waste your time getting all riled up about it. Just enjoy it and who knows you might just learn a little something along the way.
Actually, the shows star is a legal distiller of moonshine. It has never been against the law to make moonshine. If you wanted, you could make it out in your front yard-as long as its for your own consumption. You get into trouble by not paying the taxes on it to the fed govt. It has been legalized, as long as you pay the taxes on it. He made the transition a little over a year ago.
Sorry Scealf, the “it’s ok for consumption” argument only works for beer and wine. It is and always has been, at least for the lifetime of anyone on this site, unabashedly illegal to produce one drop of distilled alcohol for consumption or distribution in the united states. You can produce motor fuel (must be tainted with gas, benzene or similar), but not drinkin whisky.
i say let them moonshine if everyone here in america can drink beer freely than why cant we drink moonshine. iam 16 and live in baker county florida and let me tell you moonshining will never stop. so let it be what it is. just like tickle said “if you love your country your gonna have to love moonshine”
i love the show and cast. tickle and jt are my favorite!!!
hope there is a season 2.
Love the show, have watched every episode. Like it or not, this is legitimate heritage for certain parts of the country. Hope Tim can get the investors to go legit.
……”I am a firefighter who started out as a volunteer”…. “I’ve been a firefighter for 30 years”… “I am a retired police officer”…. “As a firefighter and EMT”…. “As a military Vet”…. I have been a firefighter for 400 years”…. “I was a firefighter alongside Ben Franklin”…. “I was fighting fires when we used leather buckets”…. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH !!!!! BFD !!! Look guys, this is a TELEVISION SHOW. You know, ENTERTAINMENT?
excellent show. That mash sure looked real to me. What do you think it went to waste. hell no. Tickle drank it. drink one for me big T. keep that show going.
Great Show but some of the moonshine produced has been real.
If I understand the history correctly, Popcorn Sutton was arrested for illegal production of liquor. While the bulk of the show may well show the history of moonshine by demonstrating the skills of the moonshiners, it is entertaining. It is interesting how they show the proofing process. When Popcorn Sutton did it, you could see that what he was diluting with water was alcohol.
Not sure how Tim and Tickle do that. The hydrometer is easy. I was a chemist for many years. Nothing magical about measuring the specific gravity of a liquid.
nitrous
I feel like this about the people that want Tim fired.If your house was burning down are you going to say send anyone but don’t send Tim we will just let it burn because he did a show about Moonshine..How Dumb can you get……..
to DrQ2u: amen ! Tim is hot, look out Shelby….should you split…..lots waiting to take your place…LOL
to FF/Paramedic 33538: If you think Tim is the only “offical” to make moonshine, you better wake up, Sparkie! In a neighboring state you have police officals as well as court officals who have been making moonshine for decades….the difference? you know what Tim does as his “day” job…… quite frankly, I would much rather have a real man like Tim on the job to save my loved ones…think about this…”volunteer” is the key word here, he does not get paid, yet he is willing to risk his life to save the lives of his community…. what he does on his time is his business….. moonshiners are the true entrepreneurs of this country….and always will be, can’t change history…so deal with it…!!!