How Slow Is Slow?

My guess is that the palette develops over time and I think it's very possible for you to find something in your process that clicks and results in more flavor.

I've found that my taste buds seem to be more receptive if I drink water or herbal teas.

Pipes are individual performers, too, and you may have to find the right combinations there.

If you can manage an hour from a couple of lights, you're doing SOMEthing right. If that hour includes about 13 re-lights of the bottom half, I can see why you're not getting flavor.

I like to think of it as smoking on the verge of going out. I do not keep a cherry going the full diameter of the bowl, and sometimes, yes, it goes out. But, sometimes you can coax the fire back, but I notice the most favor when I am wavering at the edge of loosing the fire altogether. I do not have a single pipe that I smoke less than 45 minutes, and that is my tiny pipes. My .75"+ pipes I can extend out to an hour+ depending on the depth. But, really there are no rules. And, sure if I get in a pensive situation, with kids hounding me about something and worries, I do smoke a tad faster, but those are never going to be enjoyable smokes to begin with.

Just find what is best for you. YMMV

You probably can slow down, but if you are getting an hour then you are already in the right mind set, some of the new smokers talk about 10 minute bowls! You might find that the same pipe with the same blend gets you an hour and a half or so this time next year, not so much by changing anything intentional but just through accumulative :puffpipe:
Isaac

My first thought is, how do you know you are not getting all the flavor now? Hour long smokes seems about right timewise. Perhaps you are already there. Taste is subjective. It is like describing the color red to a blind person. I suspect your smoking/sipping correctly perhaps now it is palette development. Plus, you said your really enjoying yourself so even if nothing changes your still really enjoying yourself already! Win/ Win no matter what.

Sounds like you are just about there stan. Time sounds great. The only things that I can suggest is to cleanse your palette with water and plain crackers to remove any residual food or beverage tastes and ocassionally retrohale. Coming up on the 24 year mark here, and I will sometimes find sonething new in a blend that I've been smoking for years. Carry on my friend, seems like you're doing great!

First thing you need to do is stop approaching pipesmoking as though it were a sport. Men tend to make up rules about everything, so it can be turned into a competition to sort the pecking order. Pipesmoking is not sex, you don't get man-points for lasting the longest. Don't let the internet ruin pipesmoking for you. It's a habit, not a hobby.
If your taste gets bored after 15 minutes of smoking, it's ok to put the pipe down. If the taste gets less pleasant in the latter half of the bowl, it's ok to dump it. You don't have to smoke blends that are harsh or peppery or sour just because some guys on the internet bang on about tasting "citrus" "grass" "hay" "figs" "raisins" or any of a plethora of phantom items not actually present in tobacco.
And if you like a cloud of smoke, you don't need to settle for a wisp just because you read that's how your "supposed to do it" in order to derive taste. It is true a lot of blends lose flavor and bite when puffed hard. That's the fault of the blender, not the smoker. There are blends which produce a lot of smoke with no bite and still retain their taste. A perfect example of this is Virginia Cream. It has a decent taste and a goodly amount of nicotine, but as-blended it has to be sipped at the barely-lit point or it goes flat and bites like a crocodile. Lane's BCA by itself can be stoked like a blast furnace and won't bite, but it's like smoking air. Mix VA Cream 3:1 or 2:1 with BCA and you get a blend that stays tasty and bite-free while producing copious billows of smoke.

First thing you need to do is stop approaching pipesmoking as though it were a sport.

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Pppphhhhht... more damn rules to all of this, ha ha. :wink:

As with anything on this forum, we allow anyone to post, so take the advice or leave it. But, yes no rules. And, no one is right or wrong. No one. It's just a hobby and not a habit, so enjoy... ::

You don't have to smoke blends that are harsh or peppery or sour just because some guys on the internet bang on about tasting "citrus" "grass" "hay" "figs" "raisins" or any of a plethora of phantom items not actually present in tobacco.

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Maybe if you smoked slower, shutter, you'd actually taste these things, instead of puffin' like a locomotive and calling everyone else crazy, ha ha. ::

I like to think of it as smoking on the verge of going out.

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That's when you get the most flavor from the tobacco surrounding the cherry. Simmer the tobacco.
You sound like you're doing it right. As ford pointed out, you might be expecting more robust flavor than the tobacco delivers. VA's aren't power houses compared to English blends.
But it's also important to get the moisture content correct. Without that, even a slow cadence will not be able to deliver all that it can. So try playing around with different moisture levels to see if you experience an increase in flavor. I prefer mine dry to the touch while still pliant. Any of Russ' blends are tinned at the optimal dryness for smoking. Most blenders pack with extra moisture.
And retrohaling adds a lot of flavor that is otherwise missed.

You don't have to smoke blends that are harsh or peppery or sour just because some guys on the internet bang on about tasting "citrus" "grass" "hay" "figs" "raisins" or any of a plethora of phantom items not actually present in tobacco.
Maybe if you smoked slower, shutter, you'd actually taste these things, instead of puffin' like a locomotive and calling everyone else crazy, ha ha.

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Yep. I taste all those things when I smoke a VA, VaBur, or VaPer when I smoke them slow with the proper moisture content. I just had to practice smoking Virginia blends until I found the combination that works for me.

First thing you need to do is stop approaching pipesmoking as though it were a sport.

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Absolutely true. But there is an art and technique to getting the most out of the activity.

It is true a lot of blends lose flavor and bite when puffed hard. That's the fault of the blender, not the smoker.

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Really? If we're going to play blame game, let's t least blame the REAL culprit. I BLAME YOU, TOBACCO! YOU ARE BILLOW CHALLENGED AND DEFICIENT! YOU, TOBACCO, ARE A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT TO ME! IT'S ALL ABOUT GREAT BIG BILLOWING CLOUDS OF SMOKE YOU DUMB ASS WEED!



There, I've cleared the air on that matter.

Pipesmoking is not sex, you don't get man-points for lasting the longest.

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You do if you've entered a slow smoking contest!
Here's the thing. Smoke any way that you want. But you will find that getting the most flavor out of pipe smoking requires you to smoke slow and have your tobacco at the proper level of moisture. There are no rules. There are suggestions.

Really? If we're going to play blame game, let's t least blame the REAL culprit. I BLAME YOU, TOBACCO! YOU ARE BILLOW CHALLENGED AND DEFICIENT! YOU, TOBACCO, ARE A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT TO ME! IT'S ALL ABOUT GREAT BIG BILLOWING CLOUDS OF SMOKE YOU DUMB ASS WEED!

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Ha ha, back before I knew any better, I would blame the pipe. Pipecleaners were just too easy to blame, besides they are disposable. Now, I am fairly sure it's the fault of the match. Damn matches!!

Come on, let's not dumb down the rules around here!
Rules-th

I would prefer the word "gentle" rather than slow.
The nice flavors come from the fresh tobacco beneath the ember, not the burning. The key is to keep a very low airflow speed through the bowl. Thus the fresh air goes in and travels in random directions through the tobacco, making an even and thorough burning and prevent the ember from going down too quick. So draw very very gentlely, let the air stay longer in the tobacco and through the shank, you'll find it more flavorful, more smoky and cooler.

I would prefer the word "gentle" rather than slow.

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Dammit Halfy, come on, RULES IS RULES!!! It's slow not gentle, stop trying to change the rules. ::

I learned how to write in bold! This made my night.

Yeah, you really can try too hard. Let go of tracking how long you smoke, how slow you smoke, and even how much you taste when you smoke. If you want more flavor, go to a somewhat stronger tobacco, incrementally, so you don't just get bummed out. Pipe smoking can help some folks who are a little too over achieving and goal obsessed, if they can just get a lazy frame of mind for the odd thirty minutes or an hour. That's not every pipe smoker, but many. Lose your border collie hyper-vigilance. Stop worrying about what isn't happening and go with what is. There's some letting go in it, some zen, some day dreaming here. The old joke about meditating -- don't just do something, sit there.

Try lighting 3 different pipes with three different blends. Once the first pipe gets warm, switch to the next, and so on and so forth. I find that I get an epiphany smoke each time I do this . It's a great way to bring out the flavors of the next blend. I've been smoking for 7 years and I'm just now figuring out the magic of certain blends I've been smoking the entire time.
Try doing 3 different genres; 1 balkan, 1 VA, 1 VaPer. (or whatever fits your fancy) I find that starting with a Latakia blend brings out the subtleties of a VA/VaPer... They really sing when I approach it this way, and by the time you work your way back to your Latakia blend... Holy smokes, it never tasted so good! And, you always get a cool smoking pipe. YMMV.

Where is the face palm emoticon when you really need it? Great info, and hilarity all in the same thread. :mrgreen:

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