What Is This Fine White Ash You Speak Of?

The question is: "Did you enjoy the bowl?" Like sh_t, white ash happens. For some, long time smokers, it can happen regularly. For other? Not so often. I think the dryer the blend and the finer the cut the higher the probability of a fine white ash at the end. My position is, as long as I enjoyed the bowl, the end result is unimportant.

Only happens when smoking Penzance and riding a Unicorn at the same time. ::

Let a pouch of Five Brothers sit out for a week or so and smoke that. Once the fire goes out all that will be left is a fine white ash. You may also be missing eyebrows and other facial hair but it should grow back eventually.

Carter Hall does it.

I've found for me personally I get the fine white ash when I'm sipping slowly on the pipe. The bowl stays just warm and white ash is what I find left in my bowl.

I don't often get a bowl that smokes down to nothing but "fine white ash". Usually, when it happens, it is with a well-dried tobacco smoked in a cob that has had plenty of time to rest. I imagine that's when a cob is at its most absorbent. Moisture is just a part of pipe smoking; nothing's perfect, I guess. If a bowl gets bitter or too waterlogged too maintain a light, I dump it. I'm a pipe smoker, not a masochist. I've used the "blow back through the stem" method, the "flick the moisture out of the stem" method, and the "swab your bore with a pipe cleaner" method. They all work, after a fashion, but when a bowl is done, it's done. Moist tobacco, a saturated pipe, smoking too fast, high ambient humidity...all these conspire to ruin your perfect bowl. Don't let them get the upper hand and interfere with your enjoyment. Hell, if you only enjoy the top 1/3 of a bowl, so be it. Smoke on.

I only have one briar, which gets smoked on Sundays, and the rest are cobs. The way the shank enters on a cob means I never have to worry about getting down to a fine white ash. Have to agree with Warren, as long as you enjoy it, you're doing it right.