Minimize Pipe Aftereffects

tomsmithusa · Oct 12, 2012

I know this may not bother everyone, but I like to not smell like a pipe after I am done. If no one minds, I’d like a list of recommendations to minimize aftereffects of smoking a pipe.
Here’s what I have had found over the years:
1) Minimizing heat by not having tobacco too dry.

2) Minimizing steam, by not having tobacco too wet.

3) A bent pipe – stem mouth higher than the bowl – tends to reduce moisture exiting.

4) Diameter of bowl under about 7/8” or 3/4”. (Wide bowls seem to burn hot.)

5) Savinelli’s 9mm balsa filter takes much hot steam out for me.

6) No food before smoking – or brush your teeth (recently learned tip!) – food tends to hold smoke odor.

7) No alcohol with pipe smokes – seems to strip mouth of naturally protective saliva.

8) The right tobacco.

9) Don’t puff too fast, making it burn more hot than necessary.

10) Don’t sit in your own cloud of smoke (windless days can be a bother).

11) Water rinse afterward.

12) This one is big for me: since most (all?) tobaccos I’ve had seem to be a base or low pH a good acidic after a pipe is almost immediately reversing – say vitamin C, orange juice, strawberries, cherries, lemonade . . . (I think this absolutely saves you from black tongue).

13) Gum also seems to take away some lingering after effects.

photoman13 · Oct 12, 2012

suggestions are always welcomed tomsmithusa! Some great information there that never occurred to me before.

keith929 · Oct 13, 2012

If I had to follow all those steps I would have quit a long time ago. :puffpipe:

tomsmithusa · Oct 13, 2012

keith929 -- If I had to follow all those steps I would have quit a long time ago.

I would not have, either, Ha! In fact, one fellow was thinking about quitting cigarettes and I thought about suggesting pipes, said, never mind, as the learning curve is steep at first and never ends – you have to be patient and really enjoy pipe smoking to keep moving along the learning curve. LOL.

photoman13 -- suggestions are always welcomed tomsmithusa! Some great information there that never occurred to me before.

Thank you. I looked for a while without seeing any specific topic on this, then decided even if there were, some of us like to revisit fundamentals. Like Lawrence’s simple tip that you can clean the rim of your bowl with saliva – that had never occurred to me.

photoman13 · Oct 13, 2012

Yeah it is the way I restore estates where the rim is charred.

nsfisher · Oct 13, 2012

I must admit, that following all those guidelines would make me quit, but....... it is not my place to say what is right or wrong. I don't mind the baccy after taste/smell but if you do mate, I am glad you found some things that work for you. I am sure there are others who would appreciate some of your suggestions as you seem to have have put alot of work and thought into them. Thanks for posting mate.

cigrmaster · Oct 13, 2012

That is the beauty of this hobby everyone has their own way of doing things that works for them. As long as you enjoy it then that is all that matters.

jbbaldwin · Oct 13, 2012

Sometimes I light up when I don't have any particular desire to smoke just so I will smell like a pipe afterward. (My wife likes the pipe aroma. Maybe my natural aroma needs help.

)

kris · Oct 13, 2012

How to minimize after effects of smoking a pipe:
(14) Immediately light up another bowl.

numbersix · Oct 13, 2012

This is a good list. I think many experienced pipe smokers do this without thinking, it just comes naturally - but it's a good list for us noobs.

tomsmithusa · Oct 13, 2012

Come on, come on! I can’t be the only one with tips.

This is well said, and I bet you’re right:

numbersix -- I think many experienced pipe smokers do this without thinking, it just comes naturally - but it's a good list for us noobs.

To most of us this is natural and has been developed over the years: if I started it as a pre-smoking checklist I never would have started, either.
I enjoy the after smell, too, and taste, but I have a household full of daughters and wife who are quite quick to point out if I smell like a stale pipe, so I try not to. Etcetera.

hawk60ce · Oct 13, 2012

I find that drinkng water or coffee during the smoke helps a ton!

tomsmithusa · Oct 14, 2012

hawk60ce – I think you just made my day. Since coffee leans toward alkaline I’ve never tried the two together.

All of these years. Ha! Thanks. That will be fun to try.

terry · Oct 14, 2012

I think I understand what you are saying...however, there is a difference in smelling like you just smoked a bowl of your favorite pipe tobacco and smelling like a smoke stack from smoking one bowl after another.

johnnyxpipe · Oct 14, 2012

Coffee is acidic, having a pH of less than 7 and the pH of tobacco smoke acidic as well, being between 5.6 and 5.9 on the pH scale.

juni · Oct 14, 2012

Coffee works well for me. I hear Aloe juice helps against tongue bite, but I've never tried it.

sjpipesmoker · Oct 14, 2012

After a smoke, I like to take a pipe cleaner, bend it and clean the bowl, blow thru it and remove any dottle that's left, then put in a new pipe cleaner in the stem, It somewhat cuts down on the "ashtray" smell coming from the pipe.
Also, I tend not to have too many "dirty" pipes at one time, I have a round pipe rack that holds 20 pipes, If 15 of those were "dirty" pipes, the smell would be pretty bad. So I use a couple of pipes for a week or so, clean those and pick out a couple of "clean" ones. being that I store the pipes on my dresser in my room, I also have to listen to the wife, so I try to keep them as clean as possible.

jaywellington · Oct 14, 2012

Excellent suggestions tomsmithusa !

I'm actually much concerned with smelling 'like a pipe' after I've smoked one, and a major reason for that is not to be repelling all the non-smoking others around me! You know, the smell of a smoker's exhalations, for instance, is awful!

What I do (except for many of the things you mentioned) is:

1) Mostly smoke outdoors (if my pipe is broken in or a cob, and weather permitting) or at least ensure the room I smoke at is well ventilated (eg leave a window open etc)

2) Drink a lot of water while smoking (keeps your mouth from getting too dry, and partially cleans it, reducing some of the taste and smell)

3) After smoking: Eat food, especially chocolate or whatever can overshadow the smell/taste of smoke in the mouth, or rinse well if I can (when you are out for a beer or something, you obviously can't excuse yourself to the restroom after each and every bowl!)

4) Try not to smoke everyday; the more often you smoke, the more the smoke aftertaste and aftersmell linger. Regular smokers (be it cigarettes, cigars, pipes) are more likely to be redolent of smoke, in contrast to the occasional smokers (I'm not saying I can always abstain from my pipe for too long, but it's my goal)

5) I ALWAYS use a filter. A minus to that, sure is it might reduce some hints of the tobacco's taste. Nevertheless, except for absorbing some of the heat like you mentioned(some folks say filters add to the heat- to be fair I have experienced that too!)

it can also retain some of the taste's 'thickness', or 'fullness', giving a 'lighter' draw.

6) I try to wash my teeth often, and sometimes use Listerine-type mouthwash after that (everything in moderation).
I found your suggestions very helping, and funny thing is I've been following most of them!

Happy responsible smoking!

:puffpipe:

jaywellington · Oct 14, 2012

All of these years. Ha! Thanks. That will be fun to try.
That's just crazy brother ! Coffee and tobacco go together superbly !
Get some of that in your life.

I just noticed!

How true!
tomsmithusa
Of course, mate! It's just crazy you haven't tried it!

The taste of coffee somehow harmonizes with that of tobacco, and the result is great!

One of the few drawbacks though(happens to most smokers):

If you ever want to quit smoking, you would have to even abstain from coffee too, because of the fact that you have associated the one with the other habitually (of course this can be true for any other beverage you have associated your pipe smoking habit with!).

fshu2 · Oct 14, 2012

for some reason i can not stand coffee but my teas go perfectly with my pipe.
i have to disagree with the windless day one. i love it when the smoke surrounds me.

Minimize Pipe Aftereffects

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