An Annoying Occurance: Flake Tobacco Clogging a Fully Bent Pipe

[demian_dec]

Good evening fellow pipe smokers! I find myself needing a tip regarding flakes & shapes.





I own a pretty, fully bent Savinelli Regimental 614, which I smoke most of the time. It just so happens that since my discovery of flake tobacco I've been smoking it (folded & stuffed) almost exclusively - with a tiny exception of roughly broken flake consisting of pure Virginia. I can indeed say I love it - and I won't lie a gram doing so - but there's just that one tiny-tiny thing that ruins my experience with flakes approximately two out of five times.

I've tried various flakes - pretty sure by far not as much as others here - JA (John Aylesbury) Sir John's Burley, blue Capstan, HH Rustica, and, bought just today, a pure Virginia flake, that being the absolutely raw version (not even cut into rectangles, just long stripes of flake) of the previously mentioned "tiny exception" to my flake passion. Now, when I say "various" I refer less to the quantity and more to the properties: those are different blends with different casings, and - most importantly - different slice shapes. Say, blue Capstan is, in my modest opinion, ideally rectangular, while HH Rustica, having the same length, only has about 4/10 of Capstan's width. It is so important because, when folding and stuffing, I religiously refrain from breaking pieces of flake off to suit the chamber better.
I'm perfectly fine with not being able to smoke until the very bottom is covered in white ash, for the draft channel is located around 5mm higher. But often, getting close to the last quarter of the bowl, I spontaneously find the draw compromised, which ruins the experience for me.

Let's get some things straight, so that it'll be easier to troubleshoot the problem. It's not the pipe being stuffed too tightly, or the tobacco expanding due to heat and compromising the airflow - the first three quarters give me a fabulous smoke. It's not excess moisture either, for I'd be able to whether blow it back to the tobacco, or - with an unpleasant face - suck it in. It's definitely a rogue piece of tobacco getting in.
In the morning I tend to fiddle a little, and make sure the air channel - of both, the mouthpiece and the pipe - have no obstructions (I've had quite a case with bits of cotton from JA soft slim cleaners getting stuck in there). I use an insert instead of filters in my pipe's 9mm socket, and if without it one may've had an astronomically tiny chance of running a pipe cleaner through the mouthpiece and getting it right into the bowl, with it doing so is - not even borderline - just impossible. The fully bent shape doesn't help at all, and as soon as that one damned piece of tobacco finds its way to the hole, I can forget about smoking in piece.
Poking through with the tamper's needle and trying to clean the outer arounds of the draft hole result in nothing. It's only when I, with a heavy heart, dump the unburnt flake remains out that I'm able to blow the blockage out.

This happened with each flake I folded and stuffed, so it's not the worst idea to share how I do it. My tobacco is on the drier side of things. I fold it once against the grain, and then two or three times zig-zag-like with the grain. I then lightly stuff it in, so, that the fold is up. I also take care to stuff it in so, that individual "branches" are facing the draft hole, and not a solid "wall" chunk. It doesn't matter how much space is left in the chamber upon stuffing the flake in - a half, a quarter, a little - the problem still appears late in the smoke.


Oddly enough, loose-cut tobacco is notorious for having the issue. An older gentleman I met in my tobacconist's lounge a week ago also smokes almost exclusively flake, for the simplicity of it - as he mentioned, for anything, he just couldn't get along with the "amount of fiddling and lack of room for mistake" of the loose side of the tobacco cuts. It's 180 degrees different for me. I can't recall a single time I had my pipe clogged by a broken flake, ribbon, or loose cut. They give an even burn all the way to the bottom of the bowl, but... I have to stress that I love flakes and refuse to rub them out on principle. Perhaps a straight pipe is meant to be?



With this, I nicely wrap my story up, and kindly ask for your tips and experiences.






Thanks in advance,
Demian

 

[proteus]

Wow. It's a lot to take in. Without reading every last word the gist of it is you get flakes stuck in your hole at times when fold and stuff with various tobacco. My flakes I don't pack all the way down. You have to know where your hole is and leave the tobacco a bit above it. Don't pack it all the way down like a ribbon cut. It's like pulling down the shade in front of a window. You need to leave a bit of light at the bottom of you want to keep the draw good. As it burns down it will fill it right. That's the way it works for me. I smoke a lot of Capstan Blue, Newminster 400, 507C, Mac Navy Flake, Evening Flake, and bunch of other flakes.

Ok I read a bit more. Seems you pack above the hole. In that case you might be packing too much into the bowl. I roll it like a tube and place less than I think I would if it were ribbon cut. I think you might get good results with less to tobacco in the chamber.

 

[OzPiper]

I routinely use a few meerschaum chips or Nording Keystones in the bottom of my pipes.
Easy (and cheap) solution to your problem

 

[Puffaluffaguss]

All I can say is, I learned this from the guy on this forum named Jim who reviewers tobacco and smoked more bowls in his lifetime then I could with 3 lol. He says in his posts about mixing up the bowl 3/4 of the way through. It has helped me wast alot less tobacco especially in my bigger bowls. What I think it is, is the ash is so fine it compacts into all the crevices that we thought were void of tobacco. As we smoke the ash compacts with tamping even the most baby tamp will still cause the compaction of ash. If you smoke wet and it touches the tobacco in your bowl it will be very thick in the bottom of the bowl. The best thing is just grab the tamper scrape and dump as much ash as you can, mix it up till it's all fluffed out like a ribbon cut. Even though it started life as a flake it shall enter death as a crumble cut if you want to smoke it down that far.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I routinely use a few meerschaum chips or Nording Keystones in the bottom of my pipes.
Easy (and cheap) solution to your problem

Thanks to you so do I and . . . no issues with that and helps with some others.

 

[OverMountain]

Good evening fellow pipe smokers! I find myself needing a tip regarding flakes & shapes.





I own a pretty, fully bent Savinelli Regimental 614, which I smoke most of the time. It just so happens that since my discovery of flake tobacco I've been smoking it (folded & stuffed) almost exclusively - with a tiny exception of roughly broken flake consisting of pure Virginia. I can indeed say I love it - and I won't lie a gram doing so - but there's just that one tiny-tiny thing that ruins my experience with flakes approximately two out of five times.

I've tried various flakes - pretty sure by far not as much as others here - JA (John Aylesbury) Sir John's Burley, blue Capstan, HH Rustica, and, bought just today, a pure Virginia flake, that being the absolutely raw version (not even cut into rectangles, just long stripes of flake) of the previously mentioned "tiny exception" to my flake passion. Now, when I say "various" I refer less to the quantity and more to the properties: those are different blends with different casings, and - most importantly - different slice shapes. Say, blue Capstan is, in my modest opinion, ideally rectangular, while HH Rustica, having the same length, only has about 4/10 of Capstan's width. It is so important because, when folding and stuffing, I religiously refrain from breaking pieces of flake off to suit the chamber better.
I'm perfectly fine with not being able to smoke until the very bottom is covered in white ash, for the draft channel is located around 5mm higher. But often, getting close to the last quarter of the bowl, I spontaneously find the draw compromised, which ruins the experience for me.

Let's get some things straight, so that it'll be easier to troubleshoot the problem. It's not the pipe being stuffed too tightly, or the tobacco expanding due to heat and compromising the airflow - the first three quarters give me a fabulous smoke. It's not excess moisture either, for I'd be able to whether blow it back to the tobacco, or - with an unpleasant face - suck it in. It's definitely a rogue piece of tobacco getting in.
In the morning I tend to fiddle a little, and make sure the air channel - of both, the mouthpiece and the pipe - have no obstructions (I've had quite a case with bits of cotton from JA soft slim cleaners getting stuck in there). I use an insert instead of filters in my pipe's 9mm socket, and if without it one may've had an astronomically tiny chance of running a pipe cleaner through the mouthpiece and getting it right into the bowl, with it doing so is - not even borderline - just impossible. The fully bent shape doesn't help at all, and as soon as that one damned piece of tobacco finds its way to the hole, I can forget about smoking in piece.
Poking through with the tamper's needle and trying to clean the outer arounds of the draft hole result in nothing. It's only when I, with a heavy heart, dump the unburnt flake remains out that I'm able to blow the blockage out.

This happened with each flake I folded and stuffed, so it's not the worst idea to share how I do it. My tobacco is on the drier side of things. I fold it once against the grain, and then two or three times zig-zag-like with the grain. I then lightly stuff it in, so, that the fold is up. I also take care to stuff it in so, that individual "branches" are facing the draft hole, and not a solid "wall" chunk. It doesn't matter how much space is left in the chamber upon stuffing the flake in - a half, a quarter, a little - the problem still appears late in the smoke.


Oddly enough, loose-cut tobacco is notorious for having the issue. An older gentleman I met in my tobacconist's lounge a week ago also smokes almost exclusively flake, for the simplicity of it - as he mentioned, for anything, he just couldn't get along with the "amount of fiddling and lack of room for mistake" of the loose side of the tobacco cuts. It's 180 degrees different for me. I can't recall a single time I had my pipe clogged by a broken flake, ribbon, or loose cut. They give an even burn all the way to the bottom of the bowl, but... I have to stress that I love flakes and refuse to rub them out on principle. Perhaps a straight pipe is meant to be?



With this, I nicely wrap my story up, and kindly ask for your tips and experiences.






Thanks in advance,
Demian

The more you do something and observe the conditions and results the better you get.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I have to stress that I love flakes and refuse to rub them out on principle.

Flakes are left as such to reduce production cost. That being said, flakes should pack loosely to avoid clogs from expansion when heated. You can reduce the size of the flakes or when the problem arises, smack the open end of the chamber against your palm to loosen things up and relight.

 

[Jacob74]

If it doesn't happen with any of your other pipes, maybe it's just one of the unique qualities of that particular one? If that's so, it could be the drilling and layout is such that it's just not a great pipe for fold and stuff.
But, don't despair! Even if that was the case, you could just put some Nording Keystones in the chamber and the problem will probably be solved.

 

[demian_dec]

My flakes I don't pack all the way down. You have to know where your hole is and leave the tobacco a bit above it. Don't pack it all the way down like a ribbon cut. It's like pulling down the shade in front of a window. You need to leave a bit of light at the bottom of you want to keep the draw good. As it burns down it will fill it right. That's the way it works for me.

The best thing is just grab the tamper scrape and dump as much ash as you can, mix it up till it's all fluffed out like a ribbon cut.

Thanks for the tips! I woke up with a terribly sore throat today, and still decided to pick my pipe up, after getting a steaming cup of tea ready. I stuffed a more square than rectangular piece of that pure Virginia flake with its fold facing the bottom, this time a just smudge deeper than the bowl's half mark - by that I mean, I let the flake float on top, while leaving the bottom half of the bowl empty. This way it was also approximately 3mm higher up the wall than the draft hole.

After two charring lights, and one true, I smoked it flawlessly until about just a quarter of the flake was left - at which point the ash bed got too thick to get a light, so I gently scraped and dumped it. It also appears that the remaining unburnt flake had a volcano shape, meaning it was burning more in the middle. I also gently broke the sides into the "crater", gave it the lightest of all tamps, and lit it again.

I am very pleased to inform you that it was a great smoke, and that the airflow was not compromised even a little at any point during it, even though at the end the flake has seemingly slid a bit lower, towards the draft hole, not reaching it nevertheless. I smoked it all the way down, and the only thing that reminded me of the issue was a bit of gurgling at the very end - but full bents are notorious for it, so I'm not concerned.

I may as well try the Meerschaum chips or Nording Keystones to help with excess moisture and to be sure twice that there's uncompromised space around the draft hole, as suggested by @OzPiper and @Jacob74.
I'm going to proof the method I just tried with further smokes and will change the comment if it fails. For now, the issue has been resolved.



Thanks everyone
Demian

 

[OzPiper]

The meer chips and Keystones also provide an airspace under the tobacco.

 

[Sigmund]

Just another vote for chips. They also have an added bonus of keeping your pipes cleaner as they soak up some of the tars. You can also use broken up red clay pottery pieces. My wife gardens so there are occasional broken red clay pots. One day for giggles I broke part of one up with a hammer, rinsed the pieces and put them in a jar. They were repurposed garbage and I think they may even absorb more than meer chips.

 

[Searock Fan]

When loading a pipe I usually shake the humidor a little. That makes the fine flakes go to the bottom and the larger to the top. I always try to put some larger flakes in first because they don't block the draft hold as easily. Then I finish by fishing out some of the small flakes for the top. Not only is it a good way to use them up, and they tend to burn easier and help get the pipe lit.

 

[Sigmund]

Kind of off topic but on ready rub I take a pinch out and put it on a folded sheet of paper. I fluf it a little and the little stuff goes to the bottom. I load the pipe and then put the little stuff on top...same effet different cut.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

When it happens, first,run a pipe cleaner through to try and clear it. I twist the pipe cleaner several times to try to make sure. If that doesn't do it, run the skinny rod of a Czech pipe to down the inside of the bowl to the draught hole. Move it around to clear the obstruction and draw on the pipe while doing so to see when it clears. If neither of those works, empty the pipe she smoke another. Not worth the hassle.

 

[K.E. Powell]

I've never tried this for myself, but I've seen these tiny little wire screens that can be placed in front of the draft hole. That should prevent tiny bits of dottle from clogging your pipe. They may restrict your draw somewhat, but I can't speak from experience.

 

[kcghost]

it doesn't seem real logical but you may have to get another pipe. If you smoke with others, let them smoke your pipe and see if they have the same problem,

 

[Sobrbiker]

@demian_dec:
“for the draft channel is located around 5mm higher”

Regardless of tobacco cut, that maybe exacerbating your clogging issue.
Keystones, chips, or raising floor of chamber may help.

I’m no expert, just a novitiate that fiddles with such issues myself.

 

[Hillcrest]

I now twist the flake about 1/2 turn when loading the pipe and find it helps prevent many issues. It tends to shape the pinch into a cylindrical shape. YMMV