I thought I was starting to get a good handle on the basics after five months or so of piping, but I seem to be having a bit of trouble here the last few days. We're just headed into winter here in the southern hemisphere, and where I live, that means cold and damp instead of sweltering and damp (humidity is around 90% or so most of the year). Looking through old threads, I see that humidity often means more relights and more dottle. But how should I be adjusting my packing technique to get the best smoke? I am having issues with losing a lot of the flavor by mid-bowl. Don't know if that's poor sipping technique, poor packing, both, or neither. I mostly smoke flakes (cube cutting lately, thanks to some tips from cigrmaster and others), but do have a few tins of ribbon cut/coarse cut tobacco open, which I use a three-step pack for (or some variation of it). Any ideas?
