One consistent take I've seen on tamping is "only compress the ash, only using the weight of the tamper".
I've been finding that often, when my pipe refuses to take/keep a light and I think the bowl is done, I won't have a buildup of ash, as much as 20-30% void, a mottled ash cap at the top, then half a bowl of stiff black charred leaf and 20-30% untouched leaf at the bottom (which may or may not be moist, but in this case was crispy-dry).
I packed a second bowl today and instead tried a pre-relight tamps where I applied just enough pressure to fully crush any char but not compress the remaining tobacco, and found that not only were relights trivially easy, but the bowl smoked all the way to the bottom and the remainder was almost all ash, apart from the bits that get stuck either side of the cob stem.
Here's a full album with some comments.
What gives? Is the presence of rigid char a failure to dry my tobacco enough? I aim for "just audibly crispy". Tobacco is Sutliff Match 759. I came across this post suggesting it could result from exhaling moisture through the bowl, but that seems unavoidable if you're breath-smoking so I don't know what to make of that.
I've been finding that often, when my pipe refuses to take/keep a light and I think the bowl is done, I won't have a buildup of ash, as much as 20-30% void, a mottled ash cap at the top, then half a bowl of stiff black charred leaf and 20-30% untouched leaf at the bottom (which may or may not be moist, but in this case was crispy-dry).
I packed a second bowl today and instead tried a pre-relight tamps where I applied just enough pressure to fully crush any char but not compress the remaining tobacco, and found that not only were relights trivially easy, but the bowl smoked all the way to the bottom and the remainder was almost all ash, apart from the bits that get stuck either side of the cob stem.
Here's a full album with some comments.
What gives? Is the presence of rigid char a failure to dry my tobacco enough? I aim for "just audibly crispy". Tobacco is Sutliff Match 759. I came across this post suggesting it could result from exhaling moisture through the bowl, but that seems unavoidable if you're breath-smoking so I don't know what to make of that.
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