What are people smoking to get white ash? Mine is always blue/gray.?
Fine White Ash
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You have to puff faster.
Seriously, though: I get it from some aromatics, but I can't recall which ones in particular right now. That's what happens when you smoke something different each time: then you can't remember!
Seriously, though: I get it from some aromatics, but I can't recall which ones in particular right now. That's what happens when you smoke something different each time: then you can't remember!
Pretty much nothing these days. I’m an unabashed dottle discarder.
Somehow I don't care on a pipe but I enjoy seeing 2 or 3 inches of white ash on a cigar. If I get white ash on a cigar it is mostly a bit more peppery or spicier than on a more mellow cigar.
Haven't seen dottle for a long time, just a fine blue ash.?
My ashes are white if I smoke to bottom. If there's any dottle left, it's typically dark grey. Rarely I smoke to ashes.
IIRC, fine white ash can attributed to mineral content of the tobacco, more specifically nitrogen. That's from a cigar discussion, and of course cigar leaf and pipe tobacco leaf are cured differently, but I'm sure the same nutrients are at play in the finished product. Other additives in pipe tobacco may inhibit this I would guess.
The white ash I've had I've noticed it forming on top of the contents of the chamber. I've seen it when I look there to relight. Said ash is gone when I dump the ashes mid-smoke. I always end up with some dottle, so I've never smoked anything "to a fine white ash", or to pure ash of whatever colour for that matter.
While Maduros arent peppery or spicier by definition I suppose it's because of the age of the wrapper. I'm a Maduro man myself!
On that side note, are there also aged pipe tobaccos by manufacturers? On some Padron cigars the wrapper leafs are aged 8 years.
Not sure, but I do know that some of us smoke tobacco that has been sitting in tins or jars for years, lustra, or even decades.
My tobacco collection goes back thirty years. The photo above is from an eleven year old tin of Black Frigate.
Baled tobacco can sit for a number of years in manufacturers warehouses, or so I’ve been lead to believe...
I've never understood the whole 'fine ash' thing. Enjoy your pipe as you like, whether or not you have dottle.
+1. When I’m done smoking, I’m done. Dottle be damned.
When I was able to enjoy my pipe I was often left with a mixture of dottle & fine white/grey ash, never totally white.
That said, any ash that accumulated around where I sat was generally white in colour. Make of that what you will.....and no Mike, it wasn't dandruff
Regards,
Jay.
That said, any ash that accumulated around where I sat was generally white in colour. Make of that what you will.....and no Mike, it wasn't dandruff
Regards,
Jay.
I think that is also how some pipe and cigar smokers prefer to age their stock, under their own terms and conditions instead of someone else doing it for them, it was more out of interest. I suppose tobacco ages different processed vs unprocessed, hence the question.
The best total burn I get is from cobs. From them, I get a light gray ash. I've never studied it long enough to see if there is any blue in the color. It's getting scooped into an ashtray which usually has the leavings of a previous bowl or two, so the ash is mixed. When I get a little dottle, usually from my briars, the accompanying ash is a darker gray.
I've never payed attention, but I can say that you'll get black ash from over-fertilized, inadequately aged tobacco
The only truly fine white ash I've seen in a pipe has been Balkan Sobranie, either the Sobranie Ltd, or the Gallaher versions. Everything else has been a mottled gray.
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