Too much thinking and mucking about?

klause · Mar 3, 2014

Just stuffed some aged (8 yrs) Condor RR into a system Pete, and lit up. Sublime.
Literally just rammed the Baccy into the pipe and fired it up. While smoking I was thinking about all the waffle surrounding packing, relights, tamping, keeping/dumping ash - effects of same on heat, moisture, etc, etc, etc.
I just smoked. Relit if needed, tamped as I felt (twice), beat the ash down and smoked to the bottom. Bit of a Nic hit, LOADS of flavour, and an absolute abundance of pleasure. Didn't think about the mechanics, or anything else - just tasted the smoke as and how it was delivered.
Now, I can get wrapped up in the niceties of prepping, smoking etc, but sometimes, it's just so nice, to say,'to hell with it,' and just smoke. Often times it can be a better smoke than when I get too wrapped up in the whole exercise.
Just saying.....that's all.

anglesey · Mar 3, 2014

Heh, thats the spirit. I can't be doing with getting too involved in the process. I'm watching a video on the 'frank method' on youtube at the moment, and I'm just asking myself why? I just scoop mine into the pipe and light it. I think the process of it all can get rather fetishistic sometimes.

cortezattic · Mar 3, 2014

Plain and simple is often the best.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 3, 2014

"Methods" and such are great for people who have no clue how to approach the pipe, nor how tight to pack, but I've never had a technique or method. I have been cramming and getting on with it, since I've picked up a pipe. I have tried some of the "methods" with friends at the Briary. Just to see what all of the puff was about. I experienced no difference. It cracks me up when people expound on how a method of packing changed their whole experience. It makes me wonder if the had been cramming their tobacco in tighter than concrete beforehand.

rmbittner · Mar 3, 2014

Great point, Klause!
I do think forums like this one can cause a lot of beginners to really overthink/over-worry every single little element of smoking a pipe. Somehow hundreds of thousands of people were successfully enjoying their pipes long before there was a single book on the topic. Now, it seems like many are so worried about doing something "wrong" that they fret over every single step of the process.
Bob

oldredbeard · Mar 3, 2014

I also enjoy the stuff and puff method, or I should say stuff and sip.

fadingdaylight · Mar 3, 2014

I had originally read somewhere to pack lighter at the bottom, thats about the only method Ive ever tried. Just now starting to find where I really like it. Practice makes awesomeness...

northernneil · Mar 3, 2014

I feel the methods of packing are very important for new smokers. As I am still somewhat of a novice smoker, learning different methods helps you to develop your own technique. With experience, it might seem like you're just stuffing the pipe with tobacco and lighting it. But I would venture a guess that you have developed some muscle memory to the technique / methods and now can perform it without thinking.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 3, 2014

True northernneil, very true

anglesey · Mar 3, 2014

Ah I disagree, I feel it doesn't really do any good. If someone just gave you a pipe and some tobacco and told you to smoke it, you'd figure it out quick enough. If it works though i suppose, I ought not knock it.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 3, 2014

True Anglesey, so very true

mso489 · Mar 3, 2014

I think people enjoy learning about different routines and methods. No harm in it. In some cases,

the more you know, the better you do when you just go by instinct. It is possible to learn a few new

tricks as you go along, which keeps life interesting. For decades, I thought of small pipes as souvenirs

and toys, essentially useless. Finally, one of the longtime Forums members explained that most of his

pipes are small, Group 1, 2, and 3, and explained how he enjoyed them. So I bought a Peterson Group

1, and sure enough -- a great appetizer, dessert, short-smoke, sampler, and strong tobacco pipe.

I thought I could do all this with partial bowls, but a fully stacked bowl stacked proportionately in a small

pipe smokes differently and sometimes much better. Most of the time, I agree -- just pack and light, and

don't over-think it. But information and knowhow ain't so bad either.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 3, 2014

Or, maybe we are above average on figuring things out. It is so complex, ya know.

klause · Mar 3, 2014

True northernneil, very true

True Anglesey, so very true

And that just about sums it all up. - well said, Cosmic!

cosmicfolklore · Mar 3, 2014

I prefer small bowls too, but I don't think of them as short smokes. The diameter doesn't necessarily shorten the smoking time. There is a diameter to height equation in there somewhere, because I can smoke some of my .6" diameter pipes for over an hour.

bryanf · Mar 3, 2014

I think you're onto something there cosmic.
I have some .600 diameter pipes, and they smoke as long as my new Falcon with a .875 diameter which is not nearly as deep, and as long as my estate Dunhill which is even larger diameter, but also not very deep. I, also, can smoke my smallest pipes for an hour, with a stuffed flake. I don't have any large pipes. Mine would probably all be considered small here.
It seems to me that the depth of the pipe bowl affects length of smoke much more than the diameter. Seems that the Dunhill group size is aware of this fact, because their group sizes are based on depth, not diameter.
I have tried to explain to several women that the opposite is true. Length (depth) is NOT as important as diameter, but most seemed to disagree...

fadingdaylight · Mar 3, 2014

Lol @ bryanf
I don't think I own enough pipes to really agree or disagree here, but what I have learned is that I prefer a pipe with a diameter large enough to pack with my thumb. It's just personal preference though. That said, my 19 has a narrow chamber compared to the others, and seems to burn just as long and smoke just as well.

allan · Mar 3, 2014

Since someone way back posted a video from Ireland (just can't remember where and what it was) on the 'swirl' method, I've been trying it with all sorts of tobacco.
The principle is that when you swirl the mixture in the pipe, it will burn in a more organized fashion.
To date, I just can't seem to master it. I think that with all the techniques I've read about I incorporate them all into my packing, without even realizing it.
'Muscle memory" as Northneil said.

yaddy306 · Mar 3, 2014

I believe the swirl method is a truly superior way to make a mess.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 3, 2014

My girlfriend puts me in a group 4 category, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I will last over an hour :wink:

Too much thinking and mucking about?

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