Bamboo is great stuff, and gives great performance, but having recently had bamboo fail and ruin an effort that was really going well, i am inclined to agree that there is less risk with hickory.
I also agree with the urac comments, i am a creature of habit, and used TB3 to the point that i was almost scared to try something new and have to build a heat box, but i tried the urac and just let in dry in my kitchen, no heat box...works like a champ