How dry should it be?

[dottlejockey]

I used to dry my tobacco out more earlier on in my smoking experience just to help with burnability. Once you master packing and cadence techniques this may change as it did for me. These days i smoke things right out of the tin and enjoy them as the weeks progress, making adjustments to packing and smoking technique in response to the moisture content of said tobacco. Again, as others have said, it's personal preference as to what moisture level gives you what you consider the best experience out of each blend. Time and attention to detail will sort these out. Just enjoy the journey.

 

[JOHN72]

I find it more satisfying with a slight hint of moisture or flexibility, rather than dry or crunchy. It gives me the impression that the aroma is stronger. When it is very dry and crunchy, I feel that it lacks strength, as if it has lost some of its qualities. I also usually fold the flakes and load them into the pipe; I prefer this to breaking or crushing them and loading them. However, with some types of aromatics, I smoke them dry, because with a little moisture, I tend to relight the tobacco more. It makes me think that the level of saucing is decisive in this, I may be wrong, but that's my sensation.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I don't worry about drying nearly as much as I used to. I use Nording keystones, which I find very helpful (not a "panacea") but more than that just have a better sense of how to manage tobacco that isn't completely dry (and I don't really prefer it crispy). Still, I'm not taking on something "goopy", lol. Sometimes I like a soft pillow, sometimes a little firmer.

 

[dublinpiper90]

I like my tobaccos on the dryer side for the most part Virginas I like desert dry, English blends I can tolerate just a dram of moisture, as far as aros dry as I can get them which I rarely smoke nowadays. I like my burley blends dry dry as well

 

[zercules]

For me, it’s always good right out the tin. It is your preference though. I don’t think it’s worth the fuss.

I would assume that the best moisture would technically be 65rh or somewhere around there, which is optimal for cigars in my opinion.

 

[sablebrush52]

For me, it’s always good right out the tin. It is your preference though. I don’t think it’s worth the fuss.

I would assume that the best moisture would technically be 65rh or somewhere around there, which is optimal for cigars in my opinion.

Russ Ouellette tinned at between 10 and 15% rh, which he considered optimal for pipe tobacco. I believe that Greg Pease also tinned at about that level. Others tin at higher levels, and Mark Ryan tinned his D&R blends at lower levels, saying, "Why should pipe smokers pay for water?".

 

[sablebrush52]

Dry some out a bit, pack a bowl, then let the bowl sit a day or two before you smoke it.

Delayed gratification technique! It can work really well.

 

[spearheadbill]

It depends on the blend and my own preferences. We have to play around with it all. That’s the fun of it. I really don’t dry my flakes anymore mostly out of haste but St. James always tastes better when I do but Irish flake I would never let dry.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

As dry at it can be before it starts to get dusty. IMO

 

[renfield]

There is no absolute answer that would cover all tobaccos.

You’ll have to experiment with increasing the amount of drying time until you get to what you like. A different blend may require more or less.

The right amount of drying is whatever you prefer.

 

[Brad H]

Delayed gratification technique! It can work really well.

I was not a believer at first.

 

[woodsroad]

Russ Ouellette tinned at between 10 and 15% rh, which he considered optimal for pipe tobacco. I believe that Greg Pease also tinned at about that level. Others tin at higher levels, and Mark Ryan tinned his D&R blends at lower levels, saying, "Why should pipe smokers pay for water?".

Do you mean 10-15% water by weight?

 

[sablebrush52]

Do you mean 10-15% water by weight?

I just remember Russ saying that at the West Coast Pipe Show. 10 to 15 rh, I’ve never completely understood exactly what that translates to in terms of percentages, as I go by feel when it comes to drying, so I don’t care. Drives some people nuts.

 

[OzPiper]

10 to 15 rh, I’ve never completely understood exactly what that translates to in terms of percentages, as I go by feel when it comes to drying, so I don’t care. Drives some people nuts.

Ah !
The artist’s rather than an accountant’s mindset

I used to dry under direct sun (in Oz) for 10-15mins
Now using meer chips or Nording Keystones I load straight from the tin these days.

Tins opened for some time may be very dry. Freshly opened ones can be reasonably moist.

The meer chips or Keystones absorb moisture and keeps tobacco at the bottom from becoming a soggy mass.
They also create an airspace beneath the tobacco and helps combustion.

Altering your packing makes a difference - tighter packing for shag cuts or very dry tobacco, looser for moister blends, gravity feed for cube cuts. Folding and stuffing has never worked for me.

Remember to tamp.
But only lightly

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Regular opinion on these forums is Tobacco should be bone dry.
This might be the only way to functionally smoke a lot of varieties (e.g. flake), but in terms of getting the most flavor out of tobacco there is no reason to treat Pipe Tobacco any differently than a Cigar.
Logically, it's all Tobacco, all of the rules that apply to Cigars also apply to Pipe Tobacco.

My most memorable bowls of Tobacco were straight out of the tin fresh and moist.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

When it comes to my regular smokes , I find that Erinmore, St Bruno or that of Amphora Red Full, benefit of being a little bit moister than those of my burley forward tobaccos

 

[huntertrw]

Dryer is typically better; how much is up to you and your pallet. Don't forget that water is a byproduct of combustion!

 

[judcole]

A totally subjective question, as are most things in the pipe smoking world!

 

[Hutch Piper]

Depends on the blend for me. I learn through experimentation. Some blends need to be dried out to smoke well. Others do not.

 

[woodsroad]

I just remember Russ saying that at the West Coast Pipe Show. 10 to 15 rh, I’ve never completely understood exactly what that translates to in terms of percentages, as I go by feel when it comes to drying, so I don’t care. Drives some people nuts.

10% relative humidity is desert dry, probably equates to 0% water by weight. Water content in tobacco can’t be measured directly by relative humidity, since RH measures moisture in the air, not water in a product. Instead, moisture content in tobacco (and many other things like grain, beans, etc) is measured as “water by weight”, how much of the weight of a sample is actually water. That involves using an instument that heats a sample of the goods slowly until all water evaporates and the sample stops reducing in weight.

Not a cheap device, so people sometimes mistakenly try putting a sample in a sealed container and measuring the moisture in the enclosed air space. That’s fraught with variables and other problems and doesn’t give an accurate, repeatable result. Example: In measuring RH, you are measuring the water that has evaporated from the sample and is no longer in the sample. Also, most cheap hygrometers are woefully inaccurate.

Somewhere I have a chart based on what Mr. Pease actually said, but the best thing to do is to ask @glpease directly. He probably has a better answer than I can cobble together before coffee.