Congrats! I have a 320 Author myself. Had two, had to let one go. Load it as you would any other pipe on your rack and smoke slow.
I would "fluff and fold" that Erinmore Flake and smoke it slow. Don't rub it out fully, it increases the burn rate. Were it any other pipe shape, I would encourage you to breath smoke it the first few times, but clenching that chubby Author can be challenging and/or have negative effects on your stem.
Even though I broke one of my Petersons in with an aro ( Peterson Summertime 2013 ) , I would not advise it unless you plan to dedicate that pipe to that particular blend or similar. On top of that, the Peterson had a precarbed bowl .....