This activity is similar to that of preparing to swarm and seems to be an action preparing to abandon the hive if threatened by fire. Bees with a full stomach are slower and cannot bend over to sting, much as we would have trouble bending over after Thanksgiving dinner. The benefit of smoke was probably also discovered by accident when a man tried to rob the bees at night in hopes of avoiding stings and carried a torch for light. Prehistoric cave drawings illustrate carrying a torch while robbing bees. Veils, white coveralls, and gloves further minimize stinging.
Foundation is a thin sheet of beeswax embossed with the worker size cell pattern.
This aids the bees in drawing straight comb so that the frames of honeycomb are interchangeable and easily moved. Embossing the foundation with worker size cells minimizes the number of drone cells, and thus the number of drones raised. The centrifugal extractor allows the reuse of honeycomb. Honey in the comb can be eaten and digested, the wax is a fat, but most honey is extracted and sold as a liquid because it can then be used more easily. The current technique is to remove the filled combs from the hive, cut or lift the caps off the capped honeycomb, spin the honey out of the comb and replace the combs on the hive for a refill.