I've been smoking pipes for almost two years, and still consider myself an amateur on nearly every level. I infrequently smoke, maybe once or twice a month. With spring being here, I've started to smoke once or twice a week. I've just begun to develop my good habits. Packing less aggressively, managing tamping, draw, and preventing the pipe from bubbling fairly well. My tempo has gotten a lot better, cooler smoke and less moisture than what I started with. I've got a couple of briars in my collection. Recently, I picked up a nice, smooth Peterson saddle-stemmed billiard lovat. I feel like this one is going to be my favorite for years. I love everything about it.
I decided to have my first smoke from it and chose a mellow, aged cube-cut tobacco. I filled the bowl 2/3rds of the way and went to town on it. Smooth, mellow smoke all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. I found it a bit difficult to keep the bowl lit, being new to the tiny cubes. I found that it let out a lot more moisture than what I was used to. I used a few cleaners throughout the smoke to sop up some of it before it made its way too far into the stem. Overall, I kept at it until I reached the bottom, careful to pay attention to the heat as it made it's way down.
I could hear what I thought were the cubes sizzling a bit after I took a long, cool draw. I hadn't really packed it given the shape and density of the cubes, and instead tapped the edge to settle them down into the bowl before lighting it. In the end, I loosened the ash and tapped out mostly powdery, white ash. I left the thin coating on the inside of the bowl, wiped the rest off of the rim, swabbed out the stem, and let it rest for a couple of days.
Last night, I packed a short bowl of C&D Mad Fiddler Flake and lit up. I had smoked this blend out of my meerschaum a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It's smooth and flavorful in the meer. Oatmeal raisin cookie. I had a very, very different experience this time. It tasted almost sour by comparison and I didn't enjoy it. I'm worried that I may have accidentally scorched the bowl on the first smoke. I got about halfway down before I gave up. After letting the pipe cool, I loosened the ash and shook it, leaving a somewhat thicker layer of darker, wetter ash on the bowl, wiped the rim, swabbed the stem, and let it rest with a pipe cleaner inside of the stem to soak up what I had left inside.
I've read on a few forums that briars can take some time to break in, and that your first few smokes from a briar may be less than enjoyable until you've been able to develop a nice cake. Am I just being paranoid? I was lucky enough to break-in my first briar with a whole tin of Frog Morton's Cellar, and I've yet to have a sour or acrid-tasting smoke out of it since. I'd appreciate any input, and am worried that I may have somehow ruined my new lovat by smoking too eagerly the first time around. It doesn't taste burnt necessarily, just sour. Maybe my expectations are too high, having only smoked that blend in the meer?
I decided to have my first smoke from it and chose a mellow, aged cube-cut tobacco. I filled the bowl 2/3rds of the way and went to town on it. Smooth, mellow smoke all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. I found it a bit difficult to keep the bowl lit, being new to the tiny cubes. I found that it let out a lot more moisture than what I was used to. I used a few cleaners throughout the smoke to sop up some of it before it made its way too far into the stem. Overall, I kept at it until I reached the bottom, careful to pay attention to the heat as it made it's way down.
I could hear what I thought were the cubes sizzling a bit after I took a long, cool draw. I hadn't really packed it given the shape and density of the cubes, and instead tapped the edge to settle them down into the bowl before lighting it. In the end, I loosened the ash and tapped out mostly powdery, white ash. I left the thin coating on the inside of the bowl, wiped the rest off of the rim, swabbed out the stem, and let it rest for a couple of days.
Last night, I packed a short bowl of C&D Mad Fiddler Flake and lit up. I had smoked this blend out of my meerschaum a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It's smooth and flavorful in the meer. Oatmeal raisin cookie. I had a very, very different experience this time. It tasted almost sour by comparison and I didn't enjoy it. I'm worried that I may have accidentally scorched the bowl on the first smoke. I got about halfway down before I gave up. After letting the pipe cool, I loosened the ash and shook it, leaving a somewhat thicker layer of darker, wetter ash on the bowl, wiped the rim, swabbed the stem, and let it rest with a pipe cleaner inside of the stem to soak up what I had left inside.
I've read on a few forums that briars can take some time to break in, and that your first few smokes from a briar may be less than enjoyable until you've been able to develop a nice cake. Am I just being paranoid? I was lucky enough to break-in my first briar with a whole tin of Frog Morton's Cellar, and I've yet to have a sour or acrid-tasting smoke out of it since. I'd appreciate any input, and am worried that I may have somehow ruined my new lovat by smoking too eagerly the first time around. It doesn't taste burnt necessarily, just sour. Maybe my expectations are too high, having only smoked that blend in the meer?
