5 Months In, I Still Have No Idea How to Pack a Pipe

[LeafErikson]

I would suggest trying a different blend than Half and Half as it sounds a bit temperamental in your experience. I would suggest trying something like Pegasus, Winchester, or SWR Aromatic. Regardless of the blend you choose, I would keep trying other blends before you home in on one. Once you find ‘the one’ (which some never do) I would smoke that one exclusively like you have been with the half and half until most smokes are enjoyable.

 

[AtlasAirborne]

I'm new, newer than you, but if I had to give advice to three-month-younger me who was having trouble sorting through conflicts between popular wisdom and my experiences:

- dry your tobacco until it doesn't stick together when pinched. Once you're comfortable packing/smoking, experiment with more/less drying.
- be patient with your charring lights - rather than trying to force a proper light after your charring light, take as many gentle charring lights as required (lighting evenly and tamping the ash back to level with negligible pressure in between each) and eventually it will catch.
- pack your bowl loosely enough that it barely/doesn't restrict draw. Once you're comfortable with keeping the pipe lit and smoking down the bowl, experiment with tamping it tighter after your char lights so that there's a little extra resistance, to intensify the flavor of the smoke.
- be gentle with your relights - if it's refusing to catch, try dumping the ash, stirring the surface char, tamping lightly to level, and relighting. If it still refuses to take, the remaining leaf might be too wet and you should dump it.

My preferred packing method is to take a goodly pinch of ribbon, roll it into a cylinder about as long as my chamber with enough tightness that it will spring back after insertion into the chamber, filling it. Haircut any ribbon above the rim and test for open draw, then get charring. Generally I'll end up with diluted smoke from the open draw, which can be made more potent with judicious tamping.

I smoke hearth and home blends, which are allegedly packed at smokable moisture, so YMMV, but maybe some of that is helpful to you

 

[MattRVA]

Since the party line here is "dry more and pack looser," I tried that--again. I've been sticking with Half and Half to narrow things down, since that was my last enjoyable smoke. Got it as dry as I could by leaving it spread out on a paper plate overnight. It's not crispy, but dry to the touch and doesn't clump or stick together at all when pinched together. Sprinkled some into the pipe, and tamped it down just enough to get more in, until the tiniest barely perceptible amount of resistance began to show up on the draw. Smoked it very slowly and gently, just barely keeping it going and making a tiny amount of smoke. But like every other time I've tried this, the flavor is just washed out. It's like drinking club soda, with an astringent bite that dries my mouth out. In case it still was packed too tight, I tried twice more, with a looser pack each time, which made it worse each time. The last one was barely more than gravity filled. At that point, it's impossible to draw on it at all without it burning too fast and hot.

Again, it's not that it's bad every time. Just most of the time. I've had some good ones, but NONE of the good smokes I've had were achieved by taking bone dry tobacco and sprinkling it into the pipe like new fallen snow. If anyone says they get good results by smoking that way, I honestly don't believe you.

I have had great, though seemingly impossible to repeat, experiences from the tobacco I have, but I'll try some others. What's a few more ounces at this point. When I can get them going right, codgery burley-heavy blends are my favorite. Half and Half, Classic Burley Kake, and P&C's Carter Hall match have been my go-to's lately. I've had at least 1 enjoyable smoke with each of them, a few with the Burley Kake. I think the only C&D I have is some Autumn Evening that I haven't tried yet. As for pipes, I've been sticking to a couple Nording Keystone pipes with the filter stones, and a couple small cobs, which are the ones that I've had the best results with so far.

All of those tobacco’s bit me and smoked awful at first. It wasn’t until I drifted into less cased/topped blends that I learned how to pack. Those blends you mentioned aren’t easy blends to smoke in my experience. Try getting some blending tobacco and experiment. Try 6mm or 9mm filters to mitigate tongue bite. It takes a few years, in my experience, to master packing every blend, even then it’s an occasional challenge.

 

[Sigmund]

You will get it. Grab some higher quality tobacco. Ready rubbed is easy to manage. For beginners its easier than flakes and is not quick to become a bon fire like fine ribbon.

When you tamp only tamp gently inwards from the edges. Tamping in the center is like stomping out a campfire. Think about feeding the ember from the edges to keep it going.

Next, this whole notion of smoking slow can be confusing. The whole "Slow Down, Slow down thing is a little deceptive. A couple of guys here finally made it clear to me that fire managment is about both speed and intensity. Hard puffing makes for a hot bad smoke. Long breaks in between mean more relights. Relights are ok but constant relights degrade taste and can bite your tongue.

You will be lighting constantly if you take a wisp and wait a long time. For me (Im a little hyper) I manage intensity but still have a fairly active rate of puffs with breaks in between. You dont need to suck in a cigars mouthfull of tobacco to get flavor.

Overall I cant stress enough to get a good blend. You are in the US. Tobacco is cheap as dirt. Its worth going out of your way to make a good experience. One day it will just click and you will be on your way.

 

[MattRVA]

Dunhill, now Peterson is a good ribbon cut, easy to pack, not goopy.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

There’s a lot of great advice mentioned here. There’s also something not mentioned very often, perhaps because it’s presumed, but make sure to draw on the pipe while you are gently tamping the tobacco. There are lots of mentions of using only the weight of the tamper to keep the ember in contact with the tobacco below, but not in conjunction with drawing on the pipe at the same time.

You mentioned using a pipe cleaner after each smoke, but have you checked the mortise with a flashlight? That’s often a spot where tobacco juices get gunked up (or as @OzPiper likes to say: “inspissated”) in the area where the face and sides meet—this is often the culprit for a bad tasting pipe.

 

[Horrible Gelatinous Blob]

Not sure if this has been said before -

Why don't you pack a pipe way too lightly and increase from there? Eventually you'll figure out a sweet spot with just the right resistance on your draw. You'll find what works for different cuts and in the process you'll get to know your pipe/tobacco.

 

[Piping Abe]

I really think that a lot of forums overcomplicate this stuff.

Just grab some different tobacco and give it a go. Those blends you are smoking are loaded with chemicals that may/may not be kind to your smoking.

 

[sablebrush52]

You poor sod. You have received such a wealth of suggestions that were I in your shoes I'd take a hatchet to the pipe and go running screaming into the woods.

So I'll add to it.

I'm not a new smoker. I've enjoyed smoking a pipe for better than 50 years and there are people here who appear to have been delivered smoking a pipe.

TheIronMonkey is spot on when he tells you to clean out the mortise, at least once at the end of a day's smoking. Wadded up fluffies stuffed into the mortise and spun around in it will do the job. Do that a couple of times, the last one with fluffies moistened with alcohol. Clean that airway. Clean the funnel leading to the slot. Tars and oils can leave some nasty flavors behind. Dirty pipes taste like shit.

Are you getting a lot of juice when you smoke? Then it's probably a good idea to dry down what you're smoking. When I try out a new blend, my first bowl is straight from the tin or pouch, just to see how it does. Then, if needed, I experiment with the moisture level, which has a profound affect on flavors. I might give the blend an hour to dry and see how that does. Maybe the next bowl is 2 hours of dry time, etc until I find that blend's sweet spot.

Personally, I don't nuke tobacco. I don't like what it does to blends flavors, imparting a "cooked" flavor that reminds me of Wheatena. I have never yet found the need to have anything sit out overnight except for when I was flashing off some ammonia from a batch of pure Perique. If a blend has toppings, overnight drying will diminish them considerably. Half & Half being a Burley forward OTC blend, it ought to be near correct moisture as is. Most OTC's are ready to go as found. That's part of their charm.

Since I've been smoking for a while, I just pack a pipe without methods or thinking too much about it. I just know by feel. You'll get there if you don't give up. And I occasionally pack a differently depending on the blend, since I also fuck around with that as well. But mostly I've just developed a tactile sense for what works for me.

I could go into a lot more detail, but I will spare you and the rest. Just start with a clean pipe or the rest will be compromised. Experiment. Eventually it will all fall into place, and you'll just keep finding new places.

Happy voyages.

 

[StPatrickPiper]

I find it interesting that no one seems to have suggested packing tighter. I've had some of my most hot bland smokes from packing to light. It goes up like dry grass and tastes the same. Not that this will solve all problems but you could try since it seems as though you have obliged everyone else in sprinkling your chamber lightly with tobacco.

 

[walkingpipeguy]

I find it interesting that Noone seems to have suggested packing tighter. I've had some of my most hot bland smokes from packing to light. It goes up like dry grass and tastes the same. Not that this will solve all problems but you could try since it seems as though you have obliged everyone else in sprinkling your chamber lightly with tobacco.

I had come to that conclusion before, seemed like an improvement but the results weren't reliable. I might have overcorrected and packed it too tight. A little tighter and a little more moisture would seem to be the fix, if I can find the sweet spot.

 

[StPatrickPiper]

I had come to that conclusion before, seemed like an improvement but the results weren't reliable. I might have overcorrected and packed it too tight. A little tighter and a little more moisture would seem to be the fix, if I can find the sweet spot.

I think this is where the skill and learning everyone speaks of comes in

 

[Doctor Chopper]

1-2 out of 10 good smokes now, 2-3 next week, 9 in 3 to 4 years. That is what makes this fun!

 

[anotherbob]

oh and five months in and no idea how to pack a pipe, is still decent progress. I think packing might be the thing that took me longest to learn

 

[Uguccione]

As for pipes, I've been sticking to a couple Nording Keystone pipes with the filter stones, and a couple small cobs,

Found the problem. Buy yourself a good pipe!!

 

[Uguccione]

NONE of the good smokes I've had were achieved by taking bone dry tobacco and sprinkling it into the pipe like new fallen snow. If anyone says they get good results by smoking that way, I honestly don't believe you.

Absolutely agree

 

[Cracklin' Tobaccy]

Things got better for me when I stopped obsessing over the mechanics of packing the bowl and focused more on what kind of draw I was getting. Nowadays I just stuff it in and light up. There are a couple of blends that I take care to pack but mostly for the sake of bringing out a particular quality of the tobacco involved.

 

[Marie]

I am in a similar lane at the moment like Cracklin' Tobaccy and his reply above. Having better luck focusing on the resistance with the draw. So far it tells me if I have filled the pipe densely enough with tobacco before I light it up. Then once I have it lit, when I need to tend to the embers in some way to maintain the resistance of the draw to keep things going.

 

[InWithBothFeet]

I need a pre-packed plug that fits my bowl. Pop it out of the bubble pack like a pill, drop it in my bowl and light it. Might be better if it came pre-lit too.

 

[brian64]

I need a pre-packed plug that fits my bowl. Pop it out of the bubble pack like a pill, drop it in my bowl and light it. Might be better if it came pre-lit too.

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