Center burn

Well at least you are not alone . Cortez will know as he has a nack for these types of questions .

That's normal, although how the tobacco burns down inside the bowl is more of a combination of the drill hole and bottom of the bowl lining up correctly. If the hole is at the bottom center of the bowl...life is good.
As to smoking speed...I guess it depends on what shape your mouth is in after a smoke...if its hot, sore, and dried out...then I'd say it is too fast.

I'm not a very attentive puffer and tamper; so I go through the re-light ritual quite often. It's the result of bad technique, but I seem to enjoy the taste more when I'm not obsessing over the state of the ember. Anyhow, when I re-light I notice that, like you, I'm pushing down charred tobacco around the perimeter of the plug.
On those occasions when I dump out some ash prior to a re-light, (always do this with Va flakes), I notice a more or less conical burn pattern down the center of the bowl. This is far superior to a burn path down a side of the bowl, which would indicate either poor packing technique or a poorly drilled pipe.
I'm not an expert in thermodynamics, but you don't know that; so I would say the walls of the chamber act as a heat sink, and the very center of the tobacco is where one should expect the ember to be hottest. This is actually more desirable than a uniformly burning ember because incomplete combustion at the chamber wall produces the protective carbon cake. If the tobacco at the perimeter burned completely we would end up with just ash and charred wood.
How did I do Tex ?

I would say that if you are smoking your pipes with no more than one relight and you are enjoying the smoke...leave it alone and do what you do how you do it. If you were to pay attention at the beginning of the smoke and make sure that the entire surface of the tobacco is charred it would burn more evenly. But even with a proper charring light I still find that certain smokes tend to want to burn at the center. Who knows. Right and wrong is a matter of subjective preference and, as I said before, if what you are doing makes you happy...carry on brother...carry on and smile.

Wow. Just one relight? Sometimes I have a DOZEN matches in my ashtray by the time I finish a bowl. I've noticed I can usually fire up a cob with a single light, but briars require one or two lights after the "charring light".
I am self-taught also. I vowed I would NOT smoke like my late father who seemed to be constantly hammering his drugstore pipe against an ashtray like a demented carpenter.
I used to SCRAPE the inside wall of the bowl with my tamper/pipe nail before relights and I still do that when smoking a meer or clay. But I have learned with briars (especially newer ones) to not touch the wall, tamping only the center when relighting. This draws the flame to the charred tobac on the outside, making a red ring going down the side. This builds a cake faster. Of course, the fire immediately gravitates to the center again, which I believe is a normal occurance.
I almost never dump ashes until the smoke is finished. Before relighting near the bottom, I run the spade or pick down the ashes to the heel of the bowl on the OPPOSITE side to the draft hole. This will draw the relight flame across the bottom and burn the tobacco left there. I usually do this a couple of times, after tamping. When I can't get a draft going across the bottom, it's all ashes and the smoke is finished. I usually have a few little black, charred pieces left unburned but no goopy brown uncharred pieces, which satisfies my goal of a complete burn.
Wondering why Cortez does Va. flakes any differently than others (ash dump).
Pipe smoking is a continual trial-and-error proposition, and I'm always open to trying it differently if I get better results.

Some will say that it's due to: the way the Pipe is packed, the moisture

level and cut of the tobacco, the size and shape of the chamber, the

initial lighting of the bowl, the cadence of the smoking, the tamping

habits of the smoker, etc. It's not a big issue to me. It's little

effort to tamp and relight.

Well I told you Cortez would know he is always right in these scenarios . It is better to not burn the briar , than it is to burn a complete perimeter of tobacco . The un burned tobacco on my bowl walls is minuscule at best . The only problem I have now is watching the ember and wondering if I will ever achieve a complete burn on the bowl walls . Hmmmmmmm .Where is my pipe .

Its not the easiest thing in the world to do ; lighting one's pipe properly while driving down the interstate.

Hi Collin,

(I am assuming that you have seen Bob's packing methods on the home page. Scroll down and they are on the left.)

There is one packing method that, IMO (Im My Opinion) actually seems to promote even burning.

It's called the German Pack or Frank Method.

When you watch the videos they seem rather silly... But, it works very well.

Personally, I prefer the Char and True Light method of lighting over Franks.

Paying close attention to tamping can greatly extend your smoke.

But there is method in his madness.

It seems to work particularly well with PS Luxury Bulls Eye Flake, or Escudo Navy De Luxe (coins).

Frank Method Vid 1

Frank Method Vid 2

Frank Method Vid 3

Leave it to the Germans to unnecessarily complicate matters. (I'm half German, so I'm allowed to say that.)

I haven't used the Frank method in years. Now I'm going to have to start rotating that into my smoking again. It is a bit of a pain in the ass, but the results are incredible. Pipe burns very evenly, very cool, and lasts forever.

I think Jimbo's idea is great!

I run the spade or pick down the ashes to the heel of the bowl on the OPPOSITE side to the draft hole. This will draw the relight flame across the bottom and burn the tobacco left there.

Click to expand...

I'm gonna try that on my very next bowl if the need arises.
I think Paul Szabady was the first to recommend clearing the ash on Va flakes past the mid-bowl point. I've discovered that it prolongs the characteristic clarity of Va flakes, and now I always do it. It doesn't seem to work as well, if at all, on other types of flakes. I dunno, go figure; it's one of pipedom's little mysteries.

coretez, I fully agree with you on tipping at mid-bowl (sometimes I go down to 3/4 bowl) with Va flakes in that it helps to regain that initial flavor better than not tipping.
A great thread that brought out some finer points of pipe smoking.

Bill, "initial flavor" are the words I was searching for; thanks.