What Size Flame Do You Use on Your Lighter?

dongreyface · Oct 19, 2011

As I'm constantly trying to figure out the best way for me to keep my pipe lit and only have to do so once or twice, does anyone here have any tips as to how long the flame on a lighter should be? Should it be shorter so as to just 'heat' the tobacco, or should it be longer so it can get down into the tobacco and light it all the way though. And that being said, should I keep a constant cherry in the bowl. I mostly smoke at night outside so it's very easy for me to see a cherry, but I have noticed that I can sometimes get it to smoke and not notice a cherry in the bowl.

sincityjeff · Oct 19, 2011

Do you dry your tobacco?
Or you may be packing way to tight.
This is like the fifth time I had to edit my post due to being dead tired.

sincityjeff · Oct 19, 2011

And, Have you been tamping?
All tamping does is pushing the burning ember to the non burning tobacco. So, every now and them when you feel it's going out, Tamp it a little. You'll get the feel for it pretty fast.

pstlpkr · Oct 19, 2011

cherry = ember
IMHO one must have a good tamping technique in order to smoke all the way to the bottom of the bowl without relights. I know a lot of members will disagree with me.

But, if you concentrate,"Ember Chase" carefully, coupled with careful slow-steady puffing you will be able to greatly extend your time and smoke to the bottom of the bowl with greater consistency.

: puffy

:

dongreyface · Oct 19, 2011

I do tamp, but not that often. Also, I'm wondering if I am packing too tight, usually I don't get what I would consider a good cherry, I tend to just see a few leafs buring. I think I might be a little paranoid that if I have too big of a cherry I'm going to get bite or even gurggling. What can I say, I'm a very impatien person, I like to get techniques down quickly and precisely.

sincityjeff · Oct 19, 2011

Try to load the pipe like this...
Fill bottom loose and very gently tamp it so it's still loose and that you can fill more in the pipe. Then, Fill more tobacco in and tamp a bit harder always checking the draw. The fill the bowl one last time tamping down so the tobacco is flat and even. You should have a draw that is a bit airy but not so airy that it seem empty.
Then light her up, Put flame on until all the tobacco on top is charred, Then tamp it even and flat. Relight and smoke and tamp as soon as you sense the smoke getting weaker. and repeat until you are done.

dongreyface · Oct 19, 2011

That's how I've been doing it. I guess it's just more practice, Hell, I've only been doing this about a month now. But like I said, I'm a prefectionist. Just a little eager I guess.

dongreyface · Oct 19, 2011

But I do want to thank everyone for being very patient with me on this matter. I'll eventually get the hang of it.

sincityjeff · Oct 19, 2011

I been smoking for about 5 years and it took me a year before I was smoking like what you see in movies and how past family members or people from childhood were smoking. It has a learning curve for sure. But well worth it in the long run.

lordofthepiperings · Oct 19, 2011

My lighter is finicky (sp?) so sometimes I have to set it on high and after it lights then I turn it down a bit so they flame isn't so large and charrs the rim of the pipe. I'd venture to say the best advice is as stated before, the moisture of the tobacco and tamping.
If packing is the problem however, Bob has some good videos on different methods of packing a pipe. Definitely should check those out and give a few a try to findout which method works best for you and your pipes (different shapes sometimes work better with different methods).
Other than that just enjoy the smoke and don't worry about the number of relights.

dongreyface · Oct 19, 2011

Thanks for the links Paul, just skimming I'm certain they'll help. But my eyes are starting to cross as I've been up for about 21 hours now.....I think I need to go to bed. I have a lot of studying to do in the near future :wink:
And Jeff, thanks for telling me it took you about 5 years to really truly get it, it reminds me that this is a craft that takes a lot of time to master(even though deep down I really knew that).

baronsamedi · Oct 19, 2011

Light/Tamp/Light and if necessary, tamp and light again if you didn't get a good light. +1 on the packing and tamping thing. Sometimes it takes a little more in the beginning. Especially if there is wind.

ohiopuffer · May 28, 2012

I usually pack the pipe (three step process)and let it sit for about 10 or 15 minutes then light tamp and relight.I have only been smoking pipe for about a year now but thats how my grandfather taught me to do it and he was a long time smoker.I am still learning but I have had pretty good luck with that method.The only tobacco I have had trouble with so far was CAO cherry bomb but I think that was because I packed the pipe from the tin and lit it right away.Again I am still pretty new to puffing and I am sure there are much more knowledgable smokers on here but that is my 2 cents anyway.

waznyf · May 28, 2012

I put the flame a little less than half on my old boy because I felt that the larger flame made my pipe more prone to scorches.

Tonight I used it at that setting and with only a couple relights, I had my memorial day bowl (in honor for our service members) going for close to an hour.

The only reason for the relights was mainly due to me putting things away in the garage, between puffs, knowing that it will rain soon.

sabertooth · May 30, 2012

I just lite with matches to get it going. Half to almost 3/4 though I lite again with a bic lighter. As long as I suck right the bic does a perfect job within 3 or 4 puffs.

metalheadycigarguy · May 30, 2012

It's perfectly natural to re-light and re-light often especially if the tobacco is fairly wet. If you have a wet tobacco you might try letting it dry for a little bit. Tamping multiple times is fine as well. Don't be afraid to re-light and tamp often. As far as a nice cherry, once you get a bit of ash built up in the pipe and the cherry tamped down you may not see it. As long as you have a good cloud of smoke going then you'll be fine. Don't over think it, and don't worry if you're doing it wrong. The idea of a pipe is to sit back and relax. Make a ritual of it, and then it won't seem out of the norm to re-light and tamp.
A friend of mine suggested this to me some time back, if you're planning on enjoying a pipe in the evening pick out the pipe and the tobacco you're going to enjoy. Pack the pipe as if you were going to smoke it then, but then let it rest until the evening time. This gives the tobacco a chance to dry out some and won't be as wet during the smoke. Now I've only done this a few times with mixed results. I have found that with some of the wetter tobacco it was effective. Just an idea.

grizzly86 · May 30, 2012

If you do feel it going out you can set our tamper on the tobacco, don't press just the weight from the tamper, and puff a few times quickly. This usually saves me from having to remember where I set my matches down at.

steyrshrek · May 30, 2012

Another thing the hottest part actually isn't the flame but actually above the flame 1-2 cm.

hauntedmyst · May 31, 2012

Sine I work on an air craft carrier, I just hold my pipe up to the tail of a lunching F18. That's a flame length of about 15 feet. Only a Dunhill will stand up to the blast.

gungnir · May 31, 2012

:rofl: hahaha I would love to see that hauntedmyst

What Size Flame Do You Use on Your Lighter?

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