Hi Everybody,
I think this is my first post, if not it's my second. To introduce myself I got interested in pipes (even though I don't normally smoke) as a young kid because my father had a really old and interesting pipe from his grandfather in his top dresser drawer, and when my parents were away I used to sneak in there and look at it, smell it, put it in my mouth etc, and think 'one day I'll be old enough to smoke if I want to' etc. I always loved that pipe. Then finally when my parents passed away it came to me in an inheritance, and because it was old I started trying to learn about it which got me onto Ebay where I then saw all the different types of pipes available - meerschaum/ churchwarden's/ calabash's etc - and far out - from that I also got the 'tobacco pipe accumulation disease' where I now have about 50 pipes in a collection (mostly antique). One day I will post some pics to see what everyone thinks and if they can give me any advice / any information on them etc.
However - from all of this I started watching videos including people smoking pipes and thought it would be fun to try. So I researched what were supposedly the best tobaccos for beginners and what sounded good to me was a Peter Stokkebye aromatic french vanilla tobacco - so I bought some. Around that same time I decided to buy a new pipe to smoke it in (because I didn't want to mess up my antique pipes) so I looked at tons of pictures and liked the churchwardens, so I wound up buying a new Peterson D6 Ebony Churchwarden, which I love.
So finally, here comes my question (and thank you for your patience!): Whenever I try to smoke it, it only burns about 50% of the tobacco before it feels like it's all gone. But when I clean the bowl out - there's still a lot of un-burned tobacco left? I'm pretty sure I'm loading it correctly, I load it loosely at the bottom, then more compressed towards the top (like the 'baby-grip/child grip/adult grip' technique) but it still doesn't burn most of the tobacco? The only things (I think?) I don't do - which I'm wondering if I need to? - is to let the tobacco 'dry out' on a piece of paper or something prior to loading the bowl (which I read somewhere), OR do I need to cut the tobacco up further, make it finer etc, from what came in the box that was delivered to me? I swear I've tried to load it loosely at the bottom but it still doesn't burn all the way. :-(
Or, are neither of those things necessary and I just need more practice on my 'baby grip' loading technique? Or does no one burn all their tobacco all the way down? I'd really like to get it right because I really enjoy smoking it, especially on a Friday night with some Jamesons whisky! Either way I really appreciate anyone's input, I've already learned a lot of things from reading this forum, and I hope you guys are doing well! Thanks very much for any help! Kind regards, Keith
I think this is my first post, if not it's my second. To introduce myself I got interested in pipes (even though I don't normally smoke) as a young kid because my father had a really old and interesting pipe from his grandfather in his top dresser drawer, and when my parents were away I used to sneak in there and look at it, smell it, put it in my mouth etc, and think 'one day I'll be old enough to smoke if I want to' etc. I always loved that pipe. Then finally when my parents passed away it came to me in an inheritance, and because it was old I started trying to learn about it which got me onto Ebay where I then saw all the different types of pipes available - meerschaum/ churchwarden's/ calabash's etc - and far out - from that I also got the 'tobacco pipe accumulation disease' where I now have about 50 pipes in a collection (mostly antique). One day I will post some pics to see what everyone thinks and if they can give me any advice / any information on them etc.
However - from all of this I started watching videos including people smoking pipes and thought it would be fun to try. So I researched what were supposedly the best tobaccos for beginners and what sounded good to me was a Peter Stokkebye aromatic french vanilla tobacco - so I bought some. Around that same time I decided to buy a new pipe to smoke it in (because I didn't want to mess up my antique pipes) so I looked at tons of pictures and liked the churchwardens, so I wound up buying a new Peterson D6 Ebony Churchwarden, which I love.
So finally, here comes my question (and thank you for your patience!): Whenever I try to smoke it, it only burns about 50% of the tobacco before it feels like it's all gone. But when I clean the bowl out - there's still a lot of un-burned tobacco left? I'm pretty sure I'm loading it correctly, I load it loosely at the bottom, then more compressed towards the top (like the 'baby-grip/child grip/adult grip' technique) but it still doesn't burn most of the tobacco? The only things (I think?) I don't do - which I'm wondering if I need to? - is to let the tobacco 'dry out' on a piece of paper or something prior to loading the bowl (which I read somewhere), OR do I need to cut the tobacco up further, make it finer etc, from what came in the box that was delivered to me? I swear I've tried to load it loosely at the bottom but it still doesn't burn all the way. :-(
Or, are neither of those things necessary and I just need more practice on my 'baby grip' loading technique? Or does no one burn all their tobacco all the way down? I'd really like to get it right because I really enjoy smoking it, especially on a Friday night with some Jamesons whisky! Either way I really appreciate anyone's input, I've already learned a lot of things from reading this forum, and I hope you guys are doing well! Thanks very much for any help! Kind regards, Keith
