Uneven burn of the tobacco

chuckp · Jan 13, 2016

I can never get an even burn of the tobacco from top to the bottom of the bowl. There will be a portion of the tobacco that decides to smoke and will burn about clear to the botton....then, I have to dump that ash, try to gently tamp the remaining tobacco flat and start over.
Is this normal am I doing something wrong? I'm new and smoke BCA now (tried others but not ready to move on just yet). I let the BCA dry for several hours before packing. I use the Frank method in one cob and one Dr. Grabow briar.

cosmicfolklore · Jan 13, 2016

Ara you holding the bowl level with the horizon? unless of course it is after noon, then you have to tilt it a tad towards the North.

aldecaker · Jan 13, 2016

One helpful tip I picked up from Warren is to twist the tamper (or your finger) while tamping; I now do it while packing the bowl as well. Works for me to promote an even burn.

vink · Jan 13, 2016

Are you lighting your pipe evenly? You really need to have a good ember when lighting up that pipe, helps a lot!

music4cash · Jan 13, 2016

I had that same problem a lot when I started...What I do now is after I pack the bowl I put a very even layer of rather loose tobacco right on the top...If I'm smoking flake I use a variation of the fold and stuff method but i always rub some out and top the bowl with that, and with ribbons I use the frank method but then I rub some of the ribbon in my hands to break it down further and top the bowl with that...Then I am careful to make sure that my char light gets that fluff on the top lit very evenly, and that seems to transfer through to the rest of the bowl as I smoke, thought I still get uneven burns when I do relights towards the bottom of the bowl because I have trouble spreading the flame from my lighter evenly down there cause I can't see what I'm doing, around the middle of the bowl while I'm relighting I can use the shiny metal part at the top of my lighter as a mirror to see that it is evenly lit...but like everything else with pipe smoking don't worry to much about it if you are enjoying smoking your pipe you are doing it right!!!

sjfine · Jan 13, 2016

What works for me is to pack using a sort of "air-pocket" method and to light using the guidelines implied by this article. I only light the center of the tobacco, not the entire top surface of it. The entire surface lights naturally.
And, I stopped over-thinking it. Sometime I stir the ash and tap it out gently. Sometime I gently scrape some of the tobacco left on the side of the bowl and gently tamp it into the center. I relight as needed without feeling as though I have failed at something or broken some piper's code.
Really, don't over think it.

cosmicfolklore · Jan 13, 2016

I only light the center of the tobacco, not the entire top surface of it. The entire surface lights naturally.

Bingo, the more tobacco you have surrounding the cherry, the more flavor. You don't taste the actual smoke coming from combustion, as in a cigarette, you taste the tobacco around the cherry getting heated up and releasing it's natural oils into the smoke. Cigars are similar. If you sliced a cigar while it was lit, you'd see that the cherry goes down deeper into the filler, with only the wraps being unburned down to a certain point. This is why you taste the wrap, and not so much the filler on a cigar. A pipe works the same way almost.

If the cherry is more to one side, don't worry about it. Heck, I never ever even look down into my bowl while smoking. For all I know it happens every single time. But, it doesn't affect the smoke at all.

deathmetal · Jan 13, 2016

That could also explain the ashy taste of (most) cigarettes.

sjfine · Jan 13, 2016

No joke. That article was a complete game-changer for me.

mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast · Jan 13, 2016

Yeah... the tobacco sometimes burns uneven. It's no big deal to me. I just lightly pick the ash and dump, and then pick the sides of the bowl to allow the tobacco that hasn't burnt to fall down into the bowl and relight. It doesn't happen to me a lot, but it does from time to time.

music4cash · Jan 13, 2016

That is a great article, I was hesitant to read because the mere mention of thermodynamics brings up unpleasant memories from physics courses long past, but really great thanks for posting that!

okiescout · Jan 13, 2016

If this was Jeopardy the answer would be "what is a tamper for", Pat? :lol:

sablebrush52 · Jan 13, 2016

I do light the entire surface on the initial light. I want a layer of ash over the top. Then I relight, moving the flame in a small circle. I get the best control from a wooden match. Tamping should be done lightly. It's not done to compress the tobacco, just to slightly compress and even out the ash.

aldecaker · Jan 13, 2016

Alex Trebek is the host of Jeopardy.

chuckp · Jan 13, 2016

Thanks for the replies....the one thing I would say is after dumping most of that core of ash that forms and re-tamping it's not the same smoke afterwards....it seems anyway. Seems like the ash forms just vertically and does not also expand to the width of the bowl...that's just an observation. I'll definitely try the "twisting" motion of the packing and tamping that was mentioned earlier.

cosmicfolklore · Jan 13, 2016

Seems like the ash forms just vertically and does not also expand to the width of the bowl.

How wide of a pipe chamber are we talking about?

chuckp · Jan 13, 2016

The width of my cob is .75" and the width of the Grabow is .75 or just a bit wider.

cosmicfolklore · Jan 13, 2016

Cool, I have a problem with my pipes that are about an inch wide. The cherry never gets to reach all the way across, so never, ever does all of the tobacco burn in those pipes. But, the flavor is outstanding.

sjfine · Jan 13, 2016

Seems like the ash forms just vertically and does not also expand to the width of the bowl

This is not necessarily a bad thing. As Cosmic pointed out, and what was a major part of the game-change for me, the flavor comes from the smoke filtering though the unburned tobacco. Before using the "thermodynamic" method, the last third of my pipes tasted like hell. Now, even though the taste changes over the life of the smoke, the smoke stays cool, the taste is what I think the blender intended it to be, and less of my tobacco is wasted as dottle.
Maybe you could try to stir the ash in the middle after a while; tap is out; gently scrape some tobacco from the side (the wall of the valley) into the center, and gently relight.
It's all about being gentle. Indeed, as I did with cigars, I try not to even let the flame actually touch the tobacco if I can help it.
No matter how you end up working this out, rest assured that you will work it out. You will find your cadence.

chuckp · Jan 13, 2016

ok folks, thanks for all the information...........I'll try to put it to use.

Uneven burn of the tobacco

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