Pembroke - Will Not Stay Lit. Very Frustrating.

scmkr · Aug 11, 2018

Just got a tin of Pembroke, and I cannot keep it lit for the life of me.
I am smoking with a Dunhill 3203. After I light it, it's almost immediately becoming wispy and will go out after 1 or 2 draws.
I've tried the Frank method, the 3 step method. I've tried microwaving it for 10 seconds, or just leaving it out to try for an hour (even after an hour, it still seems pretty moist, even though I'm in a very dry climate). I've tried packing it tighter, lighter, it doesn't seem to matter what I do.
This seems to happen to me a lot, I know I've got to be packing incorrectly, but I don't know what to do to fix it. I've tried so many different things.
It's going out so often that I burn my tongue trying to relight it so much. The light just will not take.
What can I try here? Is the 3203 just the wrong shape for this?

brian64 · Aug 11, 2018

even after an hour, it still seems pretty moist

Then it's not dry enough. I would let it dry until it's dry...then it'll stay lit if it's packed correctly. Just my two cents.

scmkr · Aug 11, 2018

How are the folks on tobaccoreviews smoking it without drying it at all?

brian64 · Aug 11, 2018

^ I suspect they have magic pipes. Everyone on there smokes everything down to a fine white ash straight out of the tin with no relights.
EDIT: all kidding aside, if there's a way to keep it lit without drying it, I don't know what it is...maybe someone else does. Some people don't mind relighting. I don't have much patience for it, so I let it get real dry. But that's a generality...I've never smoked Pembroke specifically.

anthonyrosenthal74 · Aug 11, 2018

Pack lighter. Literally just gravity fill your pipe to the top of the bowl and then press the tobacco down lightly so that it's just under the rim. Check your draw and light. If the draw is way too open tamp it down just a tad more. Do this every time you load a pipe (at least temporarily). Doing this, you may very well be packing too lightly, but in doing so you'll also be training your self on just how much you actually should be packing. Remember it's always better to pack a little loose and then adjust if need be. Packing technique may need to be adjusted slightly between blends and pipes. Also the pipe you are using may not have a very open draw to begin with, so lighter packing may very well help. Also tamp lightly when needed through the course the smoke. Tamping too hard can just put you right back in the same predicament. No worries. You'll get it SC. : puffy

:

python · Aug 11, 2018

I would guess that you are packing it too tight.

Try this:

1) Gravity fill the bowl to the top (by this I mean just sprinkle in the tobacco)

2) LIGHTLY push the tobacco down to the mid-bowl point (half way down)

3) Gravity fill to the top again

4) LIGHTLY push that tobacco down to just under the rim of the bowl

5) Do a charring light

6) After the charring light, LIGHTLY tamp it back down to the original starting point - do not use any force, let the weight of the tamper do the work (sometimes twisting the tamper around will crush the char down so you don't have to use any force)

7) Do a true light and smoke
Only tamp when you feel like it might be starting to go out or it does go out. You don't need to tamp much. And when you do tamp; use very minimal pressure, just the weight of the tamper should suffice. Remember, tamping is just basically, for lack of a better term, crushing the ashes down to un-burnt tobacco.
You can pack the tobacco perfectly at the beginning; but tamping too much, too hard, and too often will just ruin the draw.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: Anthony responding while I was typing. +1 on what he said as well.

snowyowl · Aug 11, 2018

Slightly drastic, but tinned Esotericas are very moist:

Leave a third of a bowl of Pembroke out overnight to dry well.

It will form the top third of your bowl, fill the bottom 2/3s with whatever Pembroke dryness an hours drying creates. Pack however you want.

The very combustible top layer will burn nicely and also help with the rest of the bowl... when you get down to it.

scmkr · Aug 11, 2018

Pack lighter. Literally just gravity fill your pipe to the top of the bowl and then press the tobacco down lightly so that it's just under the rim.

So my issue with this idea when it comes to tobacco like Pembroke is that it's very stringy. The ribbons are long. It seems impossible to gravity fill it, gravity alone will not get it into your pipe, as it will either catch on the rim or just leave a bunch of huge air pockets everywhere (but maybe that's what I want?). It ends up not being uniform whatsoever.
Something like Nightcap it seems possible, but Pembroke and Margate I have trouble doing this.

sablebrush52 · Aug 11, 2018

Then it's not dry enough. I would let it dry until it's dry...then it'll stay lit if it's packed correctly. Just my two cents.

^^This. It's dry enough when it's dry enough. There's no magic number of minutes.

How are the folks on tobaccoreviews smoking it without drying it at all?

Maybe they failed to mention that they dried it. Maybe they live in a parallel universe. All of the Esoterica blends that I smoke require drying. Otherwise, they're rendered fairly flavorless because of the excess moisture. Try drying it until it's almost bone dry. Dry to the touch when squeezed, a little stiff, maybe crispy at the edge, but still pliant.
As many here intone, dry your tobacco drier than you think you should, pack lighter than you think you should, smoke slower than you think you should.

seanv · Aug 11, 2018

Doesn't matter how stringy it is. Just put it in your pipe gently until the pipe is Full. Push down gently to the halfway point and do it again .

warren · Aug 11, 2018

Not knowing how long you've smoked a pipe my guess is you are not getting a good light. I'm a fan of the flame and sucking it into the pack. Just hold the flame above the pack and pull it down into the tobacco a couple times. I know some folks think that's a major sin. All I can say is what I do and have done for nearly sixty years.
I stuff the tobacco into the bowl without thinking about it any more (it's a reflexive action now days) but, I do test the draw before lighting and like to feel a wee bit of resistance. I also tamp after the light, lightly, spinning my finger (tamper) a quarter turn or so to distribute the burn and pull a bit of tobacco into the fire. If there is fire, fuel and oxygen it should burn. If it's not burning, you are missing one of the three.
All you can really do is keep on keeping on. You will get a lot of advice, a lot of it conflicting and some confusing.
As an aside, I generally find tobacco ready to smoke when I open the tin. But, I'm not as picky as some nor do I try to wr54ing everything out of a blend. I simply smoke the pipe. Not a fan of a lot of relighting but, accept what the blend throws at me with regard to my packing on each particular bowl.

jpmcwjr · Aug 11, 2018

Esoterica blends are often over 90% RH on opening. I dry out a tin of Margate at a time, and it takes several days. (you can use a microwave to do it in a few minutes)
So: Dry, dry, dry. If it's dry enough, you don't need much of a "technique" to load the bowl, relights will be fewer, and taste increased.

3rdguy · Aug 11, 2018

I was going to say if you have not smoked a lot you may have trouble with this one till you are well versed in smoking a pipe. What do you normally smoke?

Also a cob will give you a nice open draw

scmkr · Aug 11, 2018

I was going to say if you have not smoked a lot you may have trouble with this one till you are well versed in smoking a pipe. What do you normally smoke?

Also a cob will give you a nice open draw

Been smoking since December. I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing, even with the blends I'm comfortable with. I usually burn my mouth, due to not being able to keep it lit for more than a few draws. The constant relighting wrecks my mouth.
I usually smoke Nightcap, Carter Hall, OGS

woodsroad · Aug 11, 2018

Welcome back, Bob!

npod · Aug 11, 2018

@scmkr, just keep smoking it. Dry the crap out of it like noted above. You are good. You are just trying to wring magic unicorn dust out of Esoterica. We have all been there. It’s mortal, just like any other ribbon cut tobacco. Keep at it and enjoy.

Chasing Embers · Aug 11, 2018

Microwave it for ten seconds and pack more lightly.

techie · Aug 11, 2018

I'm a beginner, but I've learned to get my tobacco really dry, as others are saying. I'm in a pretty humid environment, so air drying can take some time. I read somewhere that microwave drying is a poor method (don't remember why), so instead, I place enough tobacco for a bowl under an incandescent light, about 7 inched away, and check it every 10 minutes or so until it reaches the desired dryness. I'm having great success with this method.
The next skill I had to work on was the tamping. At first I was tamping way too hard. Now I'm doing much better with lighter tamping a bit more frequently. You get to a point of knowing when to tamp.

brian64 · Aug 12, 2018

Welcome back, Bob!

+1

Would Smoke Rabbits if He Could Keep them Lit

I heard that requires a hare dryer.

techie · Aug 12, 2018

I heard that requires a hare dryer.

:rofl:
Or a dryer hare.

Pembroke - Will Not Stay Lit. Very Frustrating.

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