How Many Re-Lights?

[irishjedi]

Good evening,
I recently fell in love with Hermit's Capt Earle's Private Stock. I have had it cubed, rubbed, tried gravity fill, and packed it "regular", smoke it right out of the can, let it dry out a little, but it seems that I'm re-lighting quite a bit throughout the smoke. Is it due to the mixture or am I missing something? Any advice would be great. Thanks.
Mike
Edit: Corrected capitalization in title per Rule #9, L.

Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine

 

[boudreaux]

Have you done the pinch test after drying? I'm experimenting with drying and find that some blends take a whhhhoooolllle lot longer than others, due to the additives/moisture content.
With several blends I've tried - both aro and non-aro, it seems that 30 mins. is sometimes not enough. I've seen at least one comment on here that indicated that the smoker may have dried his for a week after removing it from the tin, so there is no set amount of time. But the pinch test should be a good indicator, and roth has mentioned it in multiple threads on here. (Good advice!)
I think the Captain Black Dark I sampled the other night would go through a whole can of butane for one bowl. :P
Packing too tight is another possibility.

 

[thesmokindragon]

Check on the following;

1. Moisture of bacci

2. Packing

3. Smoking Rhythm (10-15 seconds give or take between next 2-puffs ;-)

4. Tamping
but if you have to re-light here or there, no worries...always give me an excuse to admire the pipe-lighter ;-)

 

[locopony]

I let flake dry for an hour sometimes even more depending on humidity levels.

 

[trailspike48]

I may be imagining things, but it seems like the same blend, same dryness, will smoke differently in different pipes. I have a pipe that smokes great, but with MB Beacon in this pipe I had many relights. I'm going to start taking notes on each blend and each pipe and try to make sense of this issue.
Having said that, I think dryness and packing make the biggest difference. How the tabacco is formed seems to affect the drying time. I'm also giving up on aro's as they seem to require the most relights.

 

[boudreaux]

@trailspike48 - Try Pipeworks & Wilke's Rumcake. Stays lit pretty well for me. LOL No, I don't work as an ambassador for Carole Burns. She doesn't need me - her work speaks for itself. I'm a sold customer here. Tastes great, smokes great - totally enjoyable smoke, IMHO.
I experiment with lots of other kinds of blends, but always return to Rumcake as a basis for comparison (in aros).

 

[bigvan]

I never dry tobacco. I've never needed to. Pack it right, and smoke slowly (this seems to be my answer to a lot of posts lately. Sorry.)

 

[thesmokindragon]

@trailspike48- you are so right, same blend / dry times "will"

smoke differently depending on the pipe, material of bowl, etc.
That is why pipe smoking is such a great journey, I hope never

ends...always learning and experiences perhaps better and

better smokes...
Now I didn't think so when I started smoking pipe bacci years ago

...but then again coming from over 20 years if cigars...a very different

experience and my patience was still being tested...so good 'ol pure

Virginia solved that problem for me with a good mouth lashing :-(

time and time again until I was forced to learn a slow/steady pace

 

[kashmir]

As many as it takes? Works for me. But kidding aside, don't worry about it. The goal is enjoy the smoke and too much thought distracts from this.

 

[protestantpiper]

The biggest issue, as some others have mentioned, is probably how you are packing the pipe.
The traditional method of gravity feeding and compressing is a must for cube cuts etc. but if you can try sprinkling in the tobacco until full, then form a wad or ball that just barely fits in the top and push it down even with the rim of the bowl. Using this method I have found that "cork" in the top will burn quite awhile, when it starts to go out, tamp a bit then finish up the bowl.