Can you start by posting a picture of your tree?

Oh sure. I didn’t think it was necessary since my question is more general and the bush is currently mostly leafless.

Well, at the moment that isn’t really a standard. It’s a shrub. To make it one you’d need to remove all the side branches up to the desired height of the trunk then lop the top off to make it branch out. The ’leg’ of a standard won’t get taller than the point where you allow the branching to start because trees grow from the tips of their limbs, not the body. On the other hand, personally I don’t think a standard is a good look for a smoke bush. But that’s just me.

What is the distance between the shrub and the wall? ’Horrible pruning jobs’ are often the result of planting in too small an area and then having to hack chunks off.

There’s no reason not to prune now if you choose to do so. Waiting won’t affect the pruning but it would give you time to assess.

I thought timing did affect how much regrowth pruning triggers. Ie, when to avoid the monster whips that make smokebushes unattractive? Or is it a fact that any pruning at any tine sets one up for regular corrective snipping?

Since the branching starts about 18” off the ground, and not at the root crown - how is it not a standard? Regardless, my question wasn’t that I wanted one, it was that I didn’t want one.

Most pruning advice is for cutting back to the root crown - since this one has a single trunk coming out of the crown, it doesn’t seem the best way.

Many shrubs will develop a span of clear trunk before they start branching but that does not necessarily make them a standard :-) Branching immediately above the root crown is not a requirement for being a shrub. This is just a single stemmed shrub rather than a multistemmed one.

Many gardeners will pollard their smokebush or cut back each season to a specified height. This will help keep size under control and can encourage better leaf development. But at the expense of any 'smoke' or flowering. It can lead to leggy and extended midseason growth or the long, whippy branches with tufts of foliage at the ends but those can be easily headed back to a better height and appearance any time you choose.

Sorry. I thought you were asking how to create and maintain a standard.

@gardengal48 - thanks for the clarification. Out of curiosity, how tall would a trunk be for it to be considered a standard?

I think a lot of the bad pruning jobs I see are from unintentional pollarding (I can’t imagine someone doing this on purpose). Instead of cutting back all the way, they’re cutting back partially and only the new growth has all the leaves?

So with the single long branch my bush has, how can I get it to branch? Should I cut it all the way back? Or notch it? Let it be?