Not sure if it’s weather related (below freezing temps around here) or perhaps technique related but I’ve been finding the last portion of unburned tobacco to have become a crusty puck. More than what I’d consider dottle, but not much more. Definitely not wet dottle as one might expect. I can tap the puck out once I start struggling to keep it lit near the end and it comes out as a crusty puck. Perhaps it’s all spent tobacco but wondering if I might be doing something wrong.
Crusty tobacco
- Thread starter ryguy76
- Start date
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You may be using too much pressure when tamping.
Try tamping one more time and relighting, may burn it up. Tamp more around the outside.
Crusty puck?
I thought you said "crusty punk"..
I thought you said "crusty punk"..
Czech tool. Use the pick to aerate that puck and smoke it. If there's a substantial amount is left. If it's tiny bit, just dump it.
Just using a czech tool and pretty mI have use the weight of it only. After halfway through the bowl, I find I can feel the crust I go to tamp and need to break through the crust to get the bowl rockin’ again. At this point, it remains crusty and requires more tamp pressure that the first half did. Probably a perpetual cycle from this point on.
Up until recently, I had been just tamping around the edges trying to avoid a direct center tamp, but I started trying something new with an aim to get a flat surface. Could that be exacerbating this issue?
If you have done all that, you are packing too much tobacco in the bowl. Pack less and pack lighter as in don't shove the tobacco into the bowl.
I believe tamping is overrated. Yes it's necessary and you can tell when the puffs seem airy. However, I can get through 3/4 of a bowl without tamping once. That's how I prefer it.
No, pretty flat. I had been tamping aiming the keep the Center slightly higher than the edges, (like a tiny hill). But the crustiness I think has only been since I’ve been tamping flat. But, it’s gotten way colder too so could be related that too, I was thinking.
Light it a time or two and keep doing. Or, just discard it and don't worry about it.No, pretty flat. I had been tamping aiming the keep the Center slightly higher than the edges, (like a tiny hill). But the crustiness I think has only been since I’ve been tamping flat. But, it’s gotten way colder too so could be related that too, I was thinking.
I give the dottle portion 2 attempts, and if no light, no light.
What percentage is dottle typically? sometimes I smoke it all to ash and sometimes theres more in there than I’d expect. Maybe 10% of full bowl.
I smoke outdoors in humid, cold temperatures. I no longer worry about tossing a bit of dottle. It's either toss it or dig it out and let it dry to smoke it again later, which usually doesn't taste so great.
I remember seeing captain black do this and Mixture 79 does this like every single time I smoke it. Which by the way mixture 79 is great stuff.
Only you can decide that. But that all sounds like I've been there before. When it doesn't smoke or taste good, it's dottle. Just because there's tobacco, doesn't mean you should smoke it.
Presumably you’re experiencing this in a pipe that hasn’t previously smoked liked this. If that’s not the case, then you may be smoking a pipe that wasn’t quite drilled correctly. Also, you don’t mention whether this was with a familiar tobacco or a new blend; could it be the tobacco? Or differences in moisture level of the tobacco, relative to the outside temperature? Depending on how cold it is where you’re actually smoking (below-freezing temps don’t matter if you’re smoking in your living room), the cold could be affecting your pipe’s response to moisture and heat.
Sorry. I guess that’s really just a lot of guessing…
Damn!
Crusty Puck.
I wish I thought of that for a user name!
Crusty Puck.
I wish I thought of that for a user name!
Loving that Crass vest.....went to see them around 79ish....great gig....poor locals though!
To much fighting and trouble....one of our lads ended up with a broken nose...I still have a gap where my tooth once lived..
