Enter capcasin. Mammals find it intolerable (except for one subset of a goofy bipedal species), but birds love that shit.

I know someone with a dog that loves jalapenos. So its not just us.

Medical history would be pretty important.

If your burning wood in 2025, youre most likely living in a rural area. Space isnt an issue.

Ive used wood heat most of my life. Its more of the wood quality thay effects that. Dry, cured maple or ash burns clean even at lower temperatures. Most of the impurities come from volatile compounds such as burning green wood, or wood with oily resins like pine. But sure, its less efficient, but its not that big of a difference.

If you buy the wood… perhaps. But if you know some people in the arborist business, you can have all the wood you could ever need for free. However, it is a lot of hard work to saw and split the wood yourself.

Unless you are awake to refill it every hour or so… slow burning means consistent heat throughout the night.

The process still exists, its just limited to rare environments, and will never be the scale as it once was.