Problems With a Larger Bowl

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burleyboy

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 30, 2019
862
4,473
Europe
Hello fellow pipe smokers,
I'm smoking a pipe since 2016. I think I have learned to get a really good smoking experience with most of my pipes. Those pipes, which I am able to get a good smoke out of are all approximately the size of a Dunhill group four or three. I do not smoke armomatics or Englishes and I usually dry my tobacco before smoking and use do the so called gravity fill.
This year I bought a pipe with a bigger bowl, because I was looking for a longer smoke. I have not yet learned to enjoy it. It has a diameter of about 22mm and is nearly 50mm deep. I do not get much of a taste out of it and it goes out very often. Then I thought it might be a problem of this particular piece and bought a pipe of te similar size which causes the same problems. So I think the problem is me and not the pipes.
Do you have any recommendations according the use of larger bowls? Should I dry the tobacco even more / or less? Or should I tamp stronger / less strong, or more or less often? Is there a special cut / type of tobacco that fits better / worse for big bowls?
Thanks for your help!

 

sasquatch

Lifer
Jul 16, 2012
1,687
2,880
I really like bowls in the neighborhood that you are talking about for loose cut stuff, probably a bit big if you are smoking flake as flake.
Take a wad of tobacco, prepped however you like, and just jam it in the pipe. That's it. No three-tier, nothing fancy, just take a big cannonball and put it in, don't push it right to the bottom. Light this up, tamp, smoke.
I find after about 10 minutes, with the pipe warmed up a bit, it will cruise for about an hour with very little maintenance, and I get many of my most pleasurable smokes this way - small pipes are fine for flavor assessment or a quicker smoke, but that ultra-low temperature cruise-control type burn is only achieved in big ones.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,455
Dryer, maybe stronger tobacco. Keep it gently tamped. Don't be afraid to smoke incrementally -- let it go out and come back later, so you don't feel tethered to it. Try a few partial bowls. When you change size or style pipes, there is always a learning curve. Just relax and experiment, and rotate your good old favorites along the way.

 
Jan 28, 2018
13,051
136,503
67
Sarasota, FL
I find smaller bowls tend to focus the dominant tobacco component in a blend and larger bowls allow the other components to join in where you can enjoy the complexity. I think you need to smoke a larger bowl even slower than a smaller bowl if you're going to enjoy it. Take the time to taste all the flavors and nuances.
Experiment with the moisture and packing. Dry your tobacco even more in the larger pipe. Start loosely pack and tamp if you need to correct. Experiment with a bit. I mostly smoke smaller pipes but there are occasions and blends appropriate for a larger pipe. Don't short change yourself without giving the larger pipes a full chance.

 

burleyboy

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 30, 2019
862
4,473
Europe
Thank you all for your helpful responses!
I am currently smoking a large bowl pipe with some GL Pease Stratford. I have followed Sasquatch's advice and just stuffed a wad of quite dense tobacco in it. It really burns very slow and cool and I get a lot more taste than before. One thing that I have rarely encountered with any of my pipes did also happen: I left the pipe witout drawing for about 2 Minutes and it did not need a relight afterwards!
It is very interesting, I think, that those little differences between several pipes need that much of a different smoking method...

 
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