Pipes Magazine » Pipe Smoking Basics & Beginner Questions

1. 

   easterntraveler
   

   Junior Member
   Joined: Dec 2012
   Posts: 66

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Ok so I tried and failed. This is my first time attempting to smoke a pipe properly.

   Pipe used: Meerschaum I bought in Iraq in my deployment.
   Tobacco: Mac Baren vanilla cream

   So I opened my tin. WOW did it smell great. Packed my bowl using the 3 step method and off I went.

   First it started off well but after 3 puffs I immediately had issues.

   Throughout the entire smoke which lasted about 20 minutes I would get a little ting in my mouth as if I were eating some spicey food. Also it tasted nothing like vanilla. (I do not think it is suppose to though please correct me if I am wrong). I had to relight about 8 or so times which leads me to believe is the reason for the short smoke. However the bowl never got too hot to hold (Success).

   I felt like I had to constantly puff on it because if I did not the bowl would die. Also am I suppose t have a cherry in the bowl during the entire smoke? If so that didn't happen either.

   Will wait for tips before my next smoke. Thank you in advance.

   Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few be there that find it.

   Posted 4 months ago #
2. 

   numbersix
   

   Senior Member
   Joined: Jul 2012
   Posts: 2,583

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Welcome to the forum East. Your experience is not unlike most of us just starting out. It will come together naturally with more practice. MacBaren's Vanilla doesn't have a strong vanilla flavor or scent IMO.

   It's a great tobacco, but not if you're expecting an strong aro. You might want to try 1Q instead. It's milder and has a stronger flavor.

   I don't have great advice to give other than to examine your packing method. There are lots of videos on that subject. Don't give up - pipe smoking is something of an art forum. When it works, it's sublime.

   "Be seeing you" —Number Six, The Prisoner
   
   
   

   Posted 4 months ago #
3. 

   hawk60ce
   

   Senior Member
   Joined: Jun 2012
   Posts: 1,437

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Due to the tobacco not staying lit I would assume its too wet. The tobacco should be dry and especially with an aro. You can lay it out on a paper towel for a half hour or so before your going to pack it. Test it with the pinch method. If you pinch some between your thumb and ring finger and drop it, it shouldn't clump together. If it does its too wet. As far as the flavor, not going to be a huge vanilla hit, more of a creaminess then anything.

   People sleep peacefully in their beds at night, because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

   Posted 4 months ago #
4. 

   redbeard
   

   Member
   Joined: Jan 2013
   Posts: 390

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   That feeling in your mouth sounds to me like you were puffing too hard and/ or fast and it is the beginnings of tounge bite. Take it slow, make sure you false light then real light and take it slowwww. Packing the bowl is everything and will be the main factor in your smoke, you will need to relight, I hate it but everyone does it. How many times you relight depends on how well the bowl was packed. There is tons of help in this forum, everyone has great advice.

   Posted 4 months ago #
5. 

   rothnh
   

   Senior Member
   Joined: Aug 2012
   Posts: 8,854

   online

   Login to Send PM

   That's certainly normal.

   Rethink how you dry the tobacco properly.

   Rethink how you pack the tobacco in the bowl properly.

   Rethink how you puff (hopefully in small sips) properly.

   It's all about patience. Try doing some research here on proper techniques.

   You can check this forum for tons of useful information to ensure you will properly enjoy pipe smoking.

   Best of luck to you

   Posted 4 months ago #
6. 

   mthanded
   

   Senior Member
   Joined: Sep 2012
   Posts: 370

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Welcome to the forum and as I learned, practice, practice practice. Like Hawk said, the tobacco may be too wet and aros don't taste like they smell. You should get a mellow smoke out of these. Don't give up, you'll get there and you won't look back.

   Posted 4 months ago #
7. 

   portascat
   

   Preferred Member
   Joined: Jan 2011
   Posts: 1,036

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Keep banging away at it. It will all come together one day and it will be wonderful. Then you will have to wait another week for it to happen again....

   "To seek freedom is the only driving force I know. Freedom to fly off into that infinity out there."

   Posted 4 months ago #
8. 

   Gray
   

   Senior Member
   Joined: Nov 2012
   Posts: 556

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Sounds like my first! Drying the tobacco a little helped me tremendously. Also, dont puff and puff away just to keep it lit, if you feel like its going out, just let it die. Relights are better than puffing and puffing ( I think anyway).

   I must've burnt the hell out of my tongue the first bowl. It felt like a brillo pad for half an hour after.

   Posted 4 months ago #
9. 

   seamusjft
   

   Member
   Joined: Dec 2012
   Posts: 186

   offline

   Login to Send PM

   Don't consider it an epic fail mate. I've been smoking a pipe five weeks now and my first experience was much like yours. Research different packing methods and practice. You'll find one that suits you or like me, you'll take bits from different methods and make your own up. The best advice I think I could give you on packing is keep in mind building a fire when packing. There needs to be enough air to stay lit. Works for me.
   Keep at it. It's worth it

   Posted 4 months ago #
10. 

    rothnh
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Aug 2012
    Posts: 8,854

    online

    Login to Send PM

    Patience, dude

    Posted 4 months ago #
11. 

    locopony
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posts: 442

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    It would be an epic fail if you had injured yourself.
    If you had coughed through an oompaul and blew ashes in your eyes. Then while screaming in pain dropped a overly hot pipe down your shirt, burning your chest and causing you to real in pain. So that you then fell backward over the back of your chair and onto your cat. That then leaped scratching and biting onto your table spilling your glass of scotch onto some still glowing red cinders. Igniting a fire that burned your carpet along with the socks that were still on your feet.
    If it werent that bad then you probably did ok.

    Posted 4 months ago #
12. 

    knightmare
    

    New Member
    Joined: Apr 2012
    Posts: 38

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    As everyone has stated before, it sounds very much like the tobacco was too moist.

    It could also be that you packed too much tobacco, even if the draw seemed good, it may have been too cramped. This is normally my problem. I always want a nice big bowl and especially when I first started smoking, I tended to fill it with too much. I've learned that I can always refill my bowl after the smoke if I want more, because a good smoke is better than a lot of a bad smoke/burn/hot-steam-bath-for-my-tongue-smoke.

    If I need to let my tobacco dry, I normally just pack the bowl and leave it sitting around for awhile. That isn't as effective as a method as say, laying it evenly out on a paper towel, but that works for me.

    "May I smoke my pipe as well?"

    Posted 4 months ago #
13. 

    gnatjulio
    

    Preferred Member
    Joined: Mar 2012
    Posts: 1,585

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    I agree with what everybody here says. Keep it up. You'll get it. In my opinion I don't think 8 re-lights on your first or tenth bowl is all that bad.

    Posted 4 months ago #
14. 

    corncobguy
    

    Junior Member
    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posts: 54

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    @locopony Sounds like every Friday night to me. LOL

    Posted 4 months ago #
15. 

    corncobguy
    

    Junior Member
    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posts: 54

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    To me it sounds like you might not be tamping down your bowl after the char light. Or at all for that matter.

    Posted 4 months ago #
16. 

    cortezattic
    

    A part of the problem since he ...
    Joined: Nov 2009
    Posts: 6,327

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    If you think tonight was a bad experience, just wait and see how your tongue feels tomorrow morning!

    I find myself sitting idly on the line dividing past and future,
    as if I could kill time without injuring eternity. -- Thoreau
    .

    Posted 4 months ago #
17. 

    wildcat
    

    Preferred Member
    Joined: Jan 2012
    Posts: 684

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Keep banging away at it. It will all come together one day and it will be wonderful.

    Yup. Welcome!

    For whereas men of an older school, like myself, smoke for the pleasure of smoking...
    A.A. Milne

    Posted 4 months ago #
18. 

    dlattim
    

    Member
    Joined: Oct 2012
    Posts: 216

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Tobacco should be dryer than you think it should be. Pack lighter than you think you should. Tamp lighter than you think you should. Let tobacco go completely out before relighting. Puff lighter than you think you need to. I find I have to finesse a good smoke out of my pipe, rather than force a good smoke out of my pipe. Good Luck and welcome.

    If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got

    Posted 4 months ago #
19. 

    smokeybear
    

    Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 302

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    I just started also about a week ago already have three pipes haha but vanilla cream is my run too tobacco if I don't have anything else.

    It takes a few smokes to actually get the hang of it but the advice you got so far it spot on.

    The dryer the tobacco the better the smoke is so wait it out to dry.

    Full the bowl and use your finger to lightly tap the tobacco down half way then fill to the top again and go down 2/3 the way and then top it off one more time and give her a firmer tap about an 8th below the rim the more you do this the better you will get at it. Test your draw

    Light evenly on the top until the tobacco is red and rising up then puff a few times and stop use you tamper to flat out the tobacco and then light it again repeat this if you must take you time false light is crucial to an even smoke.

    To practice sipping lightly full your mouth with air then draw what you can you only need to do this a few times to get a feel for how hard you need to sip it.

    In the vanilla cream the taste lies on the light sips hold and release as you smoke more and more your palette will developer to taste the flavor. It's not really vanilla but almost fruity to me but its really good once you get used to it.

    Good luck and welcome to the forum

    Pack and lite, hope for no bite. Tamp and Dottle, Pour from the Bottle. Sit back and smell, Ah..All is well"

    Posted 4 months ago #
20. 

    rothnh
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Aug 2012
    Posts: 8,854

    online

    Login to Send PM

    I just love it when new puffers actually READ and HEED what we wear our fingers to the bone typing out here

    Posted 4 months ago #
21. 

    smokeybear
    

    Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 302

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    I just love it when new puffers actually READ and HEED what we wear our fingers to the bone typing out here
    

    Yup thanks to the forum and helpful advice from veteran pipers such as yourself I've seemed to get the hang of my new hobby rather quickly and the steps I listed above work the best for me. So thank you all and to OP you'll learn so much from just 30min of reading on here. So much information.

    Posted 4 months ago #
22. 

    bigboi
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posts: 712

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    I have to say once I started heeding the advice of a lot of these guys on here my smokes have been tremendously better!!!!
    I think everyone here is just fantastic!

    “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in all human affairs.”
    -Albert Einstein, 1950

    Posted 4 months ago #
23. 

    zanthal
    

    Preferred Member
    Joined: Dec 2011
    Posts: 1,907

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Epic failure? Nah.

    

    Posted 4 months ago #
24. 

    frennchy11
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Dec 2011
    Posts: 487

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    I'm still working on my technique after a year and a half of smoking. To be honest, even though most people might disagree, the stuff and puff method works for me. Don't over think it is the best advise I can give. Also, there is no shame in having to relight. Don't get frustrated just keep puffin!

    Posted 4 months ago #
25. 

    rmbittner
    

    Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 963

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    First: Welcome!

    Second: I gotta give you props for your start. It may have felt like a failure to you, but you are armed with what I'm guessing is a good-quality meerschaum and a quality aromatic tobacco. You're already ahead of many first-timers!

    Everyone else has already offered a range of tips and advice. So I'll just say, "Give it time." I'm not sure any one of us here fell in love with a pipe from the very first puff. We typically start with a cheap tobacco or a cheap pipe -- and had no idea whatsoever what we were doing! But there was something special about the experience that kept us searching for the blends and the pipes that had the power to transform that initial awkward, biting experience into something revelatory.

    And, hey, you've still got about 1,000 blends to try before you can give up!

    Bob

    Posted 4 months ago #
26. 

    zonomo
    

    Member
    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posts: 1,239

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    I think you just described me 45 days ago. I'm "different" now. (thank God)

    Posted 4 months ago #
27. 

    cigrmaster
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: May 2012
    Posts: 4,423

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    easterntraveler, welcome to the forum. You have received some great advice. I will add that when you are done loading your pipe check the draw, it should have some resistance, but not too much. It should feel like sipping through a straw. Also dry your tobacco for at least an hour and then do the pinch test. Most aromatics are very wet. It may take as long as 3 hours to properly dry it. I have blends that take that long and they are not aromatics. Nothing is worse than wet tobacco that is not packed properly. Also make sure you have plenty of pipe cleaners. If you hear a gurgle, use a pipe cleaner to soak up excess moisture. You will also need to keep your pipes clean, there are many videos showing how to clean a pipe. Above all, patience is your friend. Pipe smoking is unlike any other form of smoking, there is a large learning curve, but once you get it, the benefits are incredible. Do not be afraid to ask questions, that is what we are here for.

    Harris

    Posted 4 months ago #
28. 

    phred
    

    Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 361

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Welcome to the forum!

    I'm still learning, myself, but I can second or third the recommendations above - I've gotten a lot of useful tips from the folks in here, both directly in response to some of my early postings and indirectly (as in I perused the Beginner's forum in detail for a couple of weeks before I bought my first pipe).

    It's only an epic failure if it convinces you to quit.

    

    Posted 4 months ago #
29. 

    pipeinhand
    

    Preferred Member
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 1,189

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    First welcome. Second, you have done what every pipe smoker has done since weed went into a pipe. Don't despair, you will have an A-HA moment when it all comes together, and then it will be bliss.

    There is nothing like being left alone again, to walk peacefully with oneself in the woods.
    To boil one's coffee and fill one's pipe, and to think idly and slowly as one does it.

    Posted 4 months ago #
30. 

    smgorden
    

    New Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 15

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Consider the moisture level of the tobacco. I'm also a beginner, and several kind people here pointed me toward drying tobacco or considering other blends that might work well with my pipe. Packing and tamping were definitely techniques that needed refining, lighter tamping that only just touches the ash, and packing for consistent airflow all the way through pipe and bowl.

    But about the blends: my first tobacco was Captain Black (white package). The standard American aromatic with plenty of casing and shelf-life-extending preservatives ("goop", as it is often called on these forums). The result I was getting is that in my rather short pipe, it would either burn hot, giving me that spice-like tongue bite, or it would go out. I ended up puffing hard enough to keep it lit, which would make it hot, and create a cycle of negative effort there.

    I was able to calm down the Capt Black a bit by drying it before a smoke. That helped it stay lit longer, but it still wasn't ideal for me and my pipe. After that I tried out another blend with less "goop" in it, Lane Limited: Burley Mild (reviews here).

    The result was it burned slowly and evenly, and it helped me understand how much of a factor the tobacco blend itself plays in the burning. It's the fuel and the flavor.
    After having this comparatively positive, relaxing experience, I was able to return to the Capt Black with greater understanding and get a better smoke out of it, too.

    Hope this anecdote helps. Cheers!

    Posted 4 months ago #
31. 

    easterntraveler
    

    Junior Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 66

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    First I would like to thank everyone for the support. As I write this message the Mac Baren is drying and I am preparing for roung 2 . After getting a hang of this I will be looking for an estate pipe to pick up. I have a thing for older items and keeping them alive.

    Posted 4 months ago #
32. 

    easterntraveler
    

    Junior Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 66

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    My second attempt was a 100 percent more plesent. However I do not believe I am packing to bowl enou
    gh. When I puff sounds like a wind tunnel and I get no resistance at all. However the light lasted for about 40 minutes and only a few times I got a little tinge on my tongue. THANK YOU AGAIN

    Posted 4 months ago #
33. 

    mlyvers
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Sep 2012
    Posts: 343

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    good luck to you. keep trying, practice makes perfect, sounds like your last load was alittle loose, tapping should take care of that. iam glad your having better smokes now. it gets easier as you go along.

    mike.

    Posted 4 months ago #
34. 

    locopony
    

    Senior Member
    Joined: Jun 2011
    Posts: 442

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Unless your friends are looking at you in shock, and amazement, and wondering if you are ok or on drugs it wasn't an epic failure.

    Posted 4 months ago #
35. 

    progger
    

    New Member
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 24

    offline

    Login to Send PM

    Welcome indeed! No failure in my view...you are still going and that's what counts! Failure to me would have been never trying it again. Imagine if you stopped riding a bike after your first fall! I will quote rmbittner for reference on my meager offering.

    This is pretty much my first experience in a nutshell.
    

    We typically start with a cheap tobacco or a cheap pipe -- and had no idea whatsoever what we were doing!

    This next statement could not have been written better IMHO. Such was my personal experience, the search or if you will 'The Quest' has pulled me in.
    

    
    But there was something special about the experience that kept us searching for the blends and the pipes that had the power to transform that initial awkward, biting experience into something revelatory.

    Posted 4 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.

    Back To Top  | Back to Forum Home Page

   Members Online Now
   jndyer, ghost, reflectingdane, rickpal14, aikatal, darjones, drwatson, jiminks, robertnyc, erichbaumer, metalheadycigarguy, captainsousie, radio807, tbradsim1, rothnh, pruss, lumberjakpipester, roadqueen, samcoffeeman, allan, richmond, awran, kanaia, hottgunn, beor, auspipe, theboz, ohin3