The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word PEAT SMOKE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
E
A
T
S
M
O
K
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "By-product of burning" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case by-product of burning = peat smoke.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.