I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the deal is with "choking" a pipe. When I first started smoking, I had a lot of trouble keeping the pipe lit, but after a few weeks, I realized that by using a finger or two too block or "feather" or direct the airflow into the pipe, I could both make it hit a lot better (if that's the word for a tobacco pipe), and keep burning a lot better. I'd experimented a lot with it for like 5 months now, and I'm positive. If I try just puffing on it, I might be getting just a feeble smoke and it's feeling like it's going out. But then I take my fingers, and rhythmically block and unblock the airflow into the bowl (sort of like "pulsing" it. You have to just kind of get a feel for how fast and how much), and it'll spring back into life, every time (unless it's too far gone already). I'm not sure, but I think it might be something I unconsciously picked up from being around people who smoked...other things...out of pipes when I was younger. Because I just kind of started doing it without thinking about it, so I feel like I must have seen people doing it somewhere, or something.
But oddly, I don't ever see anyone else say anything about it online. I never thought much about it, but I ran into an old man down in town one day when I was walking and smoking my pipe, and he stopped me to offer me some of his tobacco and to talk. He gave me some good tips, and at one point, he asked "you know how to choke a pipe". I said "you mean where you use your fingers over the top of the bowl", and he said "yes". So he didn't say anything more about it, and I didn't think to ask at the time. I'd never thought to call it anything before I talked to him.
So what is the deal with this? Is this something that all pipe smokers do? And what do they usually call it? Because when I google "choking a tobacco pipe", I get references to plumbing being blocked up and people choking on smoke.
And just as importantly, why does it work? I think over it, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that restricting the airflow would make the fuel burn better; all I can think is that the turbulence of the air being blocked and unblocked creates a "swirl effect" that spreads the oxygen through the bowl and the tobacco. It works in the combustion chamber of a piston engine, after all. Anyway, it definitely works on tobacco. At least that's my experience.
But oddly, I don't ever see anyone else say anything about it online. I never thought much about it, but I ran into an old man down in town one day when I was walking and smoking my pipe, and he stopped me to offer me some of his tobacco and to talk. He gave me some good tips, and at one point, he asked "you know how to choke a pipe". I said "you mean where you use your fingers over the top of the bowl", and he said "yes". So he didn't say anything more about it, and I didn't think to ask at the time. I'd never thought to call it anything before I talked to him.
So what is the deal with this? Is this something that all pipe smokers do? And what do they usually call it? Because when I google "choking a tobacco pipe", I get references to plumbing being blocked up and people choking on smoke.
And just as importantly, why does it work? I think over it, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that restricting the airflow would make the fuel burn better; all I can think is that the turbulence of the air being blocked and unblocked creates a "swirl effect" that spreads the oxygen through the bowl and the tobacco. It works in the combustion chamber of a piston engine, after all. Anyway, it definitely works on tobacco. At least that's my experience.