Charring steaks like that is a crime against humanity.
Charring various woods to add to your ferment is a great idea, because you can choose the type of wood you use. I am going to use a blowtorch and put a medium toast on some pecan chunks and put them in the cookpot at bottling time, OR soak them in some bourbon to extract the flavor of both the wood, and smoke, as well as the bourbon notes.
Yes liquid smoke is similar but it is processed by someone else, not me. I tested a few drops in a sample last week and the taste was pretty horrible; very synthetic.