I know this topic comes up pretty often but there's lots of new pipe smokers on here that might benefit from hearing this fresh. I almost always buy my tobacco in bulk form. I really prefer my tobacco on the dry side and almost always put it out on paper plates overnight. It might seem that 8 or 10 hours of drying time to be excessive but I find it gets my tobacco to be almost exactly where I want it to be... especially aromatics. If it is an English blend, I generally will not dry it quite that much. What are your thoughts? For me, try tobacco lead to better taste in less tingue bite.
Drying Time
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For me it really just depends on the blend. Some are fine straight out of the tin or without any drying time others can take 24 hours to settle down and tame.
Some blends are better as they are and others can be a real pain and it bring out the beast in them as well as some different flavors.
Play around and figure out how they perform for you personally.
Some blends are better as they are and others can be a real pain and it bring out the beast in them as well as some different flavors.
Play around and figure out how they perform for you personally.
Generally speaking, I find dryer tobacco to be much easier to smoke. And rarely have I encountered a 'modern production' tobacco too dry to smoke.
I've always disagreed with the idea of really long drying times for all blends. The best thing to do (as said above) is to experiment with different blends and see what works for you to get the best flavour.
For example, with G&H blends I often find they smoulder away best with very little dry time, while maintaining their flavour. When I have occasionally dried some (for example, if it's in a pouch and I've forgotten it) they need many more relights (I know this seems counter-intuitive!). HU blends, also, always seem perfect straight from the tin. On the other hand, I have found I often have to dry some McClelland blends for half an hour or so in order to get the best out of them.
For example, with G&H blends I often find they smoulder away best with very little dry time, while maintaining their flavour. When I have occasionally dried some (for example, if it's in a pouch and I've forgotten it) they need many more relights (I know this seems counter-intuitive!). HU blends, also, always seem perfect straight from the tin. On the other hand, I have found I often have to dry some McClelland blends for half an hour or so in order to get the best out of them.
It depends on the blend, the cut and personal preference. I find HU blends all can benefit from a little dry time. On a slightly different topic new guys should know that when you pop a tin most belds are not at their best. Ive found with most three days after opening they are ideal. That is regardless of if you dry them or not. I guess tobacco is claustrophobic.
The way I am going about it (for good or ill) is to blend some of my tobacco which tastes the best but has trouble staying lit with some of my dryer tobacco which doesn't have the strong flavors I like but has the benefit of being dry. I then mix everything up to make my primary pouch of tobacco. The primary pouch is what I regularly smoke. If something needs to be adjusted I use my stores of tobacco to tweek the mixture of Latakia and perique and "filler" dry tobacco into what I think tastes the best and burns at a rate I like. Thanks for creating this thread this is an interesting topic.
The GH Black Bogie Twist I smoked today dried for about 12 hours. I like to get those GH twists crumbly-dry. I cut some coins onto a plate and just leave it there to dry for whatever amount of time. Sometimes hours. Sometimes days. Flake tobaccos seem to be easier to smoke if dried the same way.
Lot's of blends don't need time to dry. D&R tobaccos and Semois already come very dry and burn quickly if not well packed. I suspect these two actually hydrate from ambient humidity if left out.
In my opinion Pegasus, Haunted Bookshop, and similar C&D blends don't need to dry, but allowing them to dry out a bit doesn't hurt.
Maybe I ought to set some Autumn Evening out to dry for a week. I might be able to get past 2/3 of a bowl.
Lot's of blends don't need time to dry. D&R tobaccos and Semois already come very dry and burn quickly if not well packed. I suspect these two actually hydrate from ambient humidity if left out.
In my opinion Pegasus, Haunted Bookshop, and similar C&D blends don't need to dry, but allowing them to dry out a bit doesn't hurt.
Maybe I ought to set some Autumn Evening out to dry for a week. I might be able to get past 2/3 of a bowl.
Humidity makes a big difference as well. Generally, I can set something out for about half an hour and it will be fine to smoke. But on high humidity days it could take far longer, especially for aromatics. Flakes can be good to fold and stuff in an hour, or a day depending on the humidity.
It isn’t possible to just say “dry for X amount of time”. Time is just one of the variables, and not the most important one. There’s ambient temperature, humidity and altitude. Tobacco moisture content, cut and composition are three more variables. So there’s seven variables. Then there’s personal preference. Eight variables.
It’s best to just dry tobacco long enough to suit your desired moisture level, however long that takes. I like it crisp but pliable. Just shy of crunchy. YMMV.
Pretty simple.
It’s best to just dry tobacco long enough to suit your desired moisture level, however long that takes. I like it crisp but pliable. Just shy of crunchy. YMMV.
Pretty simple.
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I dry every blend for 48 minutes and 13 seconds, give or take. It always improves the flavor, except when it doesn't.
Sydney, Oz can often have days with grey skies and high humidity.
Since discovering meer chips and Nording Keystones I’ve obsessed less about dry times.
Most bowls can be loaded straight from the tin and smoked down to ash with minimal or no dottle. And few or no gurgles.
Since discovering meer chips and Nording Keystones I’ve obsessed less about dry times.
Most bowls can be loaded straight from the tin and smoked down to ash with minimal or no dottle. And few or no gurgles.
As has been said, it depends on the blend. There's no set time. For me it's a matter of the tactile feel of the tobacco, and that varies with blend type.
English blends are the most forgiving because the Latakia and orientals pack a lot of flavor regardless of whether they're straight out of the tin or dried for hours. More details in the blend will be revealed by lower moisture content.
Aromatics are more tricky. Left too long to dry and the flavorings will dull down. This is why aros are really not a beginner's choice.
I mostly smoke Virginias, so I dry them down until they are just shy of bone dry. Crispy around the edges but still pliant. No sense of moisture welling against my skin when I pinch the tobacco. That's when I generally get the most detailed flavors from a Virginia blend as well as Va/Per blends and Va/Per/Bur blends. Mummy dust may still maintain a cereal flavor, but that's not what I'm looking for.
And some blends are more forgiving about moisture content than others. You need to experiment with your blends to know best how to enjoy them.
The most finicky in my experience is Esoterica Stonehaven. There's a narrow sweet spot where you get all of the chocolate and raisins as well as the treacle and underlying tobacco and it can be maddeningly difficult to hit.
Here's a little story to illustrate. Back when the Los Angeles Pipe Club was in its early days we had a meeting at the Cigar Warehouse in Sherman Oaks. I got to talking with one of the guys there and he started complaining about what a tasteless piece of shit Stonehaven was. After finally scoring a bag he just couldn't get anything out of it and decided to "punish" it by leaving the bag in the backseat of his car, in the 100˚ dry Los Angeles summer heat. And that's where it had sat for two weeks. He was going to throw it in the trash, but offered it to me if I wanted it.
Who was I to refuse? I gladly took the bag, figuring that I had nothing to lose and brought it home. I figured I'd give it a try and loaded a flake into one of my larger pipes. Then I lit it up.
Total magic. EVERYTHING was there. I had another bowl just to see if it would repeat. Total magic again. I jarred that bag and enjoyed it sparingly over the next year and every smoke was GREAT. I'd never before been able to consistently get the best out of that PITA blend.
As with everything else, experiment. What works for me may not work for you. Try a blend at different moisture levels to figure out what works best for you with that blend. Generalities will get you in the ballpark, but more experimentation will get you to home base.
English blends are the most forgiving because the Latakia and orientals pack a lot of flavor regardless of whether they're straight out of the tin or dried for hours. More details in the blend will be revealed by lower moisture content.
Aromatics are more tricky. Left too long to dry and the flavorings will dull down. This is why aros are really not a beginner's choice.
I mostly smoke Virginias, so I dry them down until they are just shy of bone dry. Crispy around the edges but still pliant. No sense of moisture welling against my skin when I pinch the tobacco. That's when I generally get the most detailed flavors from a Virginia blend as well as Va/Per blends and Va/Per/Bur blends. Mummy dust may still maintain a cereal flavor, but that's not what I'm looking for.
And some blends are more forgiving about moisture content than others. You need to experiment with your blends to know best how to enjoy them.
The most finicky in my experience is Esoterica Stonehaven. There's a narrow sweet spot where you get all of the chocolate and raisins as well as the treacle and underlying tobacco and it can be maddeningly difficult to hit.
Here's a little story to illustrate. Back when the Los Angeles Pipe Club was in its early days we had a meeting at the Cigar Warehouse in Sherman Oaks. I got to talking with one of the guys there and he started complaining about what a tasteless piece of shit Stonehaven was. After finally scoring a bag he just couldn't get anything out of it and decided to "punish" it by leaving the bag in the backseat of his car, in the 100˚ dry Los Angeles summer heat. And that's where it had sat for two weeks. He was going to throw it in the trash, but offered it to me if I wanted it.
Who was I to refuse? I gladly took the bag, figuring that I had nothing to lose and brought it home. I figured I'd give it a try and loaded a flake into one of my larger pipes. Then I lit it up.
Total magic. EVERYTHING was there. I had another bowl just to see if it would repeat. Total magic again. I jarred that bag and enjoyed it sparingly over the next year and every smoke was GREAT. I'd never before been able to consistently get the best out of that PITA blend.
As with everything else, experiment. What works for me may not work for you. Try a blend at different moisture levels to figure out what works best for you with that blend. Generalities will get you in the ballpark, but more experimentation will get you to home base.
I like my tobacco fairly dry, so overnight is perfect for me. It depends on what the climate is like where you live. If you live in a moist, humid climate then drying time will increase.
I don’t smoke a lot of straight aromatics, but I dry almost everything anywhere from a couple minutes to an hour or more. Pipe smoking is such a Goldilocks thing, I don’t know if what I do will work for literally anyone else, but what works for me is getting the tobacco just short of where it gets crunchy. For me, that burns the best but retains the most flavor. As always, YMMV.
I'm relatively new to pipe smoking, but I've found most freshly cracked tins to be a tad on the moist side.
I try to air some tobacco before I pack, but usually, I'm too impatient to be honest.
Anyhow, I do have a feeling that pipe tobacco is more forgiving to be on the dryer side than cigars are.
I'm not sure if it's my inexperience or an actual observation, but it seems air humidity seems also a significant role. I have noticed that smoking cigars outside in a humid/cold environment, sometimes causes it to crack.
Smoking a pipe in the same conditions, seem to require more relights, and tend to smoke hotter...
I try to air some tobacco before I pack, but usually, I'm too impatient to be honest.
Anyhow, I do have a feeling that pipe tobacco is more forgiving to be on the dryer side than cigars are.
I'm not sure if it's my inexperience or an actual observation, but it seems air humidity seems also a significant role. I have noticed that smoking cigars outside in a humid/cold environment, sometimes causes it to crack.
Smoking a pipe in the same conditions, seem to require more relights, and tend to smoke hotter...
I smoke mostly English blends and for the most part, they don't need much/any drying. There are exceptions, though, which include pirate kake. It's something like 50-75% latakia and MOIST. At least a couple of hours for that.
