Aha! Sipping!

[mrcloud]

I am new to the pipe and have finally realized what some of you ol timers have said. Sipping, not puffing, is the sweet spot for savoring the tobacco. I find that I need to puff at it periodically to keep the fire burning, but the minute sips of smoke, allowed to waft through the nazal cavity out the nose, alows for both the gustatory and olfactory senses to savour the tobacco properly. Too much smoke and the senses are somewhat overpowered. Add to that a relaxing cadance and its that moment of bliss Eckhart Tolle talks about.
Perhaps there is more to learn here. Any sippers out there got two cents to share?

 

[thesmokingtexan]

I try my best to resist the urge to puff to get it going again it is better to just relight. I do tend to get into a steady rythem with sipping and this helps to keep it however sometimes before I know it my rythem is to quick and then it gets hot and bites

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I've found that every time I think I'm going as slow as I need to, I can turn it down another notch.

At first I took deep, strong puffs (which just fries everything). I kept my pacing so that the pipe didn't race, but the puffs themselves were too big. Then I learned to use less effort, but my puffing was still too deep, I was filling almost the entire cavity of my mouth with smoke. Now I'm learning to just use the front of my mouth, drawing smoke produces barely any movement.

I also like to draw and expel through the pipe. Some people have fancy names for it, I just call it "keeping the smoke out of my face".

 

[ravkesef]

You're learning the deep, dark secret of enjoyable pipe smoking. By sipping slowly, you're keeping the temperature inside the pipe (the cherry) as low as possible, thereby toasting rather than burning the tobacco. Toasted tobacco has a wonderful flavor and it's really where you'll find the most pleasure.

 

[newbroom]

ravkesef,

That is so well said. For us newcomers, discovery is a pleasure in itself. Many have tried, but not all have chosen.

Tongue bite and burnt taste are probably the biggest reasons for failure to comeyooncate (cool hand luke)

 

[daimyo]

I have noticed that I will subconsciously alter my cadence at times to allow for a slower sip. For instance if the best cadence seems to be 30 seconds between two slow sips but that eventually leads to it going out, then I will sip at that pace for 3 or so times and then throw in 2 slow sips at 20 seconds and return to the previous slower cadence. I never really noticed myself doing this until I was showing a friend how to smoke pipe but I think it allows to to work at a cadence that would otherwise lead to more relights. Nothing wrong with relights of course but it's nice if they can be avoided without making the smoke less enjoyable. I don't know if this is the best way to do it but it seems to work for me.

 

[newbroom]

I think the problem is that a cigarette drag is often quite powerful in regards to suction but a pipe haul is like taking something through a straw gently.

Great analogy but it is only a problem for the uninitiated.

 

[mrcloud]

ravkesef, I recognize the wisdom in your post. I observed that the low temp sips, near pipe going out, gave the most delici toasty vapor results. I like it best when the cherry is delicate, as sipping from a hot pipe, though somewhat nice, is still a different experience. Howeer I do find that I frequently have to relight playing in that elusive sweet spot.

 

[grouchydog]

I struggle a lot with this. Whenever I sip as is recommended here, my pipe generally just goes out. Still working on balancing drying/packing/cadence; this is a long journey, not a quick trip...

 

[12pups]

Shouldn't be coming out your nose, should it? I can't do that without taking it deeper, probably into my lungs. Trying to do it right now, but nope. To do that I have to inhale it.
How does your nasal lining feel later? Me, if I'm letting smoke out my nose, I can feel that later. Back when I quit cigarettes (1988) I cherished most the return of my sense of smell. Deep breaths full of fresh mown grass, cut hay, dirt turned over in the spring fields... I don't want to erode that.
Smoking my pipe has not affected my sense of smell, my nasal passages, or my mornings (no smoker's hack that I had back in the old days of cigarettes).
2 cents... others' mileage varies, I'm sure.

 

[tuold]

12pups, I've tried to teach my son how to do this but it seems some people just don't have the ability. You should be able to force air from your mouth out through your nose. It goes the same route milk takes when you take a drink and suddenly laugh. :P

 

[mrcloud]

121pups, you dont have to inhale to blow it out your nose. Its actually very simple. First inhale a full lung of fresh air, so you know you aren't inhaling. Then draw a sip/puff with you mouth from your pioe. Then gently exhale thorugh your nose. The air being exhaled will draw with it the smoke within your mouh brinking the smoke out your nose, kinda like a dragon.
When I do this with a gentle sio I taste and smell the notes within the tobacco. I enjoy aromatics like this best. A tingle in the sinus cavities will be felt from the nicotine, and I believe you get a bit more vitamin N this way.

 

[layinpipe]

Sipping your pipe is probably the single most important part of the process. It is also the one part that takes the longest to accomplish and nail down. Nobody can really show you or tell you how to do it properly and it is a developed skill one attains over dedicated time/trial and error. Once you get it down though, the whole experience is much more pleasurable and the maximum amount of enjoyment reveals itself in each and every tobacco blend you stick in your pipe. All in all, the journey is the destination.

 

[mrcloud]

Layinpipe I like what you said. I am still a newbie, only just "discovered"sipping, but in the short time since the dawn of that realization it is transforming my enjoyment with the pipe. Even tobacco blends that I earlier decided that I didnt like are now being resurected to being enjoyable.

 

[phxrock]

A long time Pipe Smoker but, new to the list. I just came back to my pipes a month ago after being gone for about 20 years. This is more enjoyable than ciggs.
Think of sipping as having an empty pipe in your mouth and lightly drawing though it. I do this during the day while I am at work since I am not able to smoke. This has helped me to slow down my rhytum and the bowl stays cooler. And as how to have the smoke go out the nose, just raise the back of your tounge as if you are going to breath though your nose. I may have to relight once or twice but for the most part I don't until I get to the bottom third of the bowl.