Pipe story and other do's and don't s

[Grrrrr609]

So rereading some of today's posts on the pipe n00b thread and was reminded of something. I may have shared this before. I don't remember.

Couple of years ago I broke down and bought a Peterson pipe. I read and read and reread on how to break it in. In all my attempts to break it in I realized I wasn't enjoying the pipe.

One day I saw via email (think it was St Patty's day) that a local shop was having it's yearly Peterson sale. I went to check them out. And fell in love with the Nording pipes. Long discussion with the shop owner over breaking in pipes when another customer, smoking a Nording, walked in. The shop owner said to ask him. So I did. He said, "Pack it and smoke it".

Took the new Nording home and packed it and smoked it. The most enjoyable bowl I ever had. Completely hooked me on pipe smoking.

To this day I have yet to enjoy a bowl out of that Peterson. Not the Petersons fault but mine.

So no I don't generally break in my pipes. I do however let uncoated pipes rest longer that my coated ones. I generally only rest them for 24hrs. I have several pipes in my rotations. I grab 2 or 3 clean pipes and rotate those till they need cleaned then grab 2 or 3 more. And so on and so forth. I keep Authors and Rhodesians and Bulldogs in my rotations. Freehands like my Nordings sit at home for my Virginia blends. I have a couple full bents I have set aside for times when I want to have some quiet time with my coffee when I get up. One for aros and one for English blends.

Cobs, well cobs I don't take very good care of. They get abused. I smoke back to back to back bowls. I smoke baccys that I'm unsure of. Blends with strong smells. I smoke them hot and fast. I scortch them and beat them around. I don't clean them much. But I do love my cobs.

 

[Grrrrr609]

Packing the pipe.

Well I watched many videos. Read many articles.

My favorite way is to fill the bowl and squish it down and repeat till I'm happy with the amount of baccy and the draw.

 

[Grrrrr609]

So basically don't think too much. Just pack it and smoke it.

Remember a pipe is a vessel in which to smoke tobacco.

And most importantly, enjoy it.

 

[dharbolt]

Thanks Dave. this is good advice to me as a noob

 

[smokinghole]

I second his post. I was trying to pack my bowl a certain way for a month or more. I was not enjoying it as much as I should have. I started just packing as Dave does and im happy. I just stick the pipe in a bag if thats what the baccy is on, fill er up, test draw and light.

If you like your way dont let someone tell you you are doing it all wrong. If you enjoy it that way then that way is fine in my book.

 

[Argus17]

OK, I must be stupid or something. I have watched many videos, tried multiple packing styles, and yet I can't keep my pipe lit for more then 2 or 3 puffs. After seeing this post, I grabbed one of my long forsaken Kaywoodies, packed it with H&H Virginia Spice and gave it another try. Same problem as before. So, I think maybe It's packed too tight. Spoon out the bacy, and only load half of what was in there. Still only a couple puffs and out it goes. So, I get more bacy, and pack it real tight. Same problem. I really love the taste of pipe tobacco, but it's not enjoyable having to re-light it over and over again.

Could it be the baffle in the Kaywoodies? Maybe I should grab a cheap cob, and give that a try.

For now, I'm grabbing a LFD Airbender Maddie and heading back to the smoke room. At least I'm not too stupid to know how to smoke cigars.

 

[Grrrrr609]

Dave, take ur baccy and let it air dry on a paper plate for an hour or so then give it a try.

 

[Whtwtrman79]

And totally try it in a mm cob.... Generally my cobs smoke easier than briars.... At least til their broke in really well

 

[Argus17]

Dave, take ur baccy and let it air dry on a paper plate for an hour or so then give it a try.

Dave, I have left some to air dry for a few days, and it didn't help. I found out that a former acquaintance of mine smokes pipes. I'm going to have to track him down, and maybe he can show me what I'm doing wrong.

Now, that Airbender is calling my name, lol. Back in an hour or so.

 

[cgraunke]

I found in the beginning that I wasn't lighting LONG enough to get a good burn started.
Liken it to toasting your cigar foot until you see the first bit of orange in the tobacco and then stopping your light. It's going to go out, right? That was my "ah-ha" realization. Give it a shot!

 

[Grrrrr609]

Light. Tamp. Relight.

For me when I first light the baccy kinda swells. I tamp the ash down and then relight. Then I have no problems. I tamp alot. I probably over tamp but oh well.

 

[javajunkie]

Light. Tamp. Relight.

For me when I first light the baccy kinda swells. I tamp the ash down and then relight. Then I have no problems...

clint and grrrr have this completely right. the charring light is where it's at: it's like using a torch to just toast the foot of a cigar to just under a glow, then using a soft flame to finish the light, and all of a sudden you got no burn issues with your cigar. try to get everything slightly glowing in the bowl, and you will see it puff up. tamp. it down lightly to an even surface, then light that surface. all of a sudden it lights even, and burns better. you create a surface for the ember to follow, just as the foot of a cigar.

and STOP THAT "I'M STUPID" SHIT. ain't a one of us here didn't have issues cutting or evenly lighting a cigar at one point. enough practice, and it becomes second nature, and your brain recedes into a zen state as your hands do the work of prepping your cigar. just so for pipes; you just do it until you CAN do it. nice thing with pipe, though, even if you f#@k up the light or the load, a relight doesn't really change the flavor at all. sometimes helps, in fact. o)

 

[Hoshneer]

It really is an art. After awhile you literally get a feel for every pipe and tobacco. It just becomes natural.

 

[Sirspanksalot]

I still manage to screw up packing, especially when i rush it. Piping is serious bidness!

 

[Grrrrr609]

It really is an art. After awhile you literally get a feel for every pipe and tobacco. It just becomes natural.

The one I can't get use to is my Devil Anse.



I can't see the dam thing. I have to light it in my rear view mirror. Already scortched it when I first got it.

 

[Hoshneer]

It really is an art. After awhile you literally get a feel for every pipe and tobacco. It just becomes natural.

The one I can't get use to is my Devil Anse.



I can't see the dam thing. I have to light it in my rear view mirror. Already scortched it when I first got it.

I have a Savinelli Hercules that is that size that I thought I'd love but I can't get a feel for it.

 

[Grrrrr609]

It really is an art. After awhile you literally get a feel for every pipe and tobacco. It just becomes natural.

The one I can't get use to is my Devil Anse.



I can't see the dam thing. I have to light it in my rear view mirror. Already scortched it when I first got it.

I have a Savinelli Hercules that is that size that I thought I'd love but I can't get a feel for it.

I had a Hercules 320 in my hand recently. Loved it. Just couldn't pull the trigger.

 

[cgraunke]

Dave, I think when things have settled a bit after the BOTL pipe, I'd still be game for getting a couple guys together and doing a group Devil Anse buy!

 

[Ducttapegonewild]

Okay, more Noob questions here... When you're talking about packing, you're referring to just loose tobacco? What about other terms, like ropes, coins, and plugs, are there different packing methods for them?

 

[smokinghole]

Packing anything. Doesn't matter whether you're stuffing shag, thick cut, cube, or whatever it's all packing a bowl. So to smoke a rope you have to cut coins really unless it's dry enough and you have a perfect diameter pipe to just stuff a cut of rope in there. I haven't tried because it tends to be moist and the best way to dry it out a bit for smoking is to coin it up and rub it out.

Each tobacco can have a different method but the way I play the game as long as I get ample smoke I just stuff the tobacco in the pipe. So some flakes I can fold and stuff. Plugs are just the form of tobacco before it gets sliced into a flake. If you think about the planes of a body and how they're "sliced and diced" in the medical world a rope becomes a coin and is a transverse cut. Flakes are essentially a sagittal cut from a plug. Then there is krumble cake which is cut tobacco pressed into a brick and it just gets rubbed back out into shredded tobacco. There are ready rubbed flakes and broken flake.

I'm already drinking beer and too easily losing track of my thought train.