A few final newbie questions..

[johnnyz]

Hello all! Hope your day is going great!
So, I've been smoking my new Pete 999 and absolutely love it! Such a good smoker! As I was smoking some Mississippi River last night I started thinking of some final newbie questions I wanted to ask. So, here we go..
1.) Is there any good ways to prevent charring the top of the bowl? I have yet to see any charring on my pipe and am trying to be careful, but I just wanted to know if there are any good tips on preventing it from happening? I love my pipe, LOVE IT, and I don't want it to get charred up at all. I don't use a torch lighter or anything. I use a Bic lighter primarily as of right now. I'm looking at pipe lighters and debating on which one I'd like to get, the search continues...
2.) I've seen pictures and read articles on the web about people ruining their pipes by smoking them too hot, and over puffing. My question is, what exactly is "over puffing". I'm a cigarette smoker, but do not take the same type of hits off my pipe as I do my cigarettes. I hit my pipe softer and slower. Is there any advice anyone can give on the proper way of smoking a pipe? How do you know when the pipe is getting "too hot"? Clearly the bowl will get warm, but how do you know when it gets too hot? Will it be too hot to hold? I just want to make sure I'm not hitting the pipe too fast or too slow. Kind of like a cigar, I've heard from some of my friends who smoke them that you should puff on your cigar approximately every minute or so. Is the same true for a pipe?
3.) How often can I smoke my pipe? I only have two right now, a cob and my Pete. I have been smoking the pete every other day, usually in the morning with my cup of coffee. I've read about how some people don't think you need to wait, some say wait 24 hours, and some others say wait a few days. The thing is, I want to smoke it every day! Twice a day at that! I'll be buying a new pipe here in a month or so, but until then should I continue to wait every other day to smoke? More than every other day? or can I just smoke it whenever I want as long as I run cleaners through after every smoke and make sure it's dry?
As of right now those are the only questions I can think of. I just don't know how delicate or sturdy a pipe is. This is my first briar so I have a few things to learn. I just hope the pipe can last me for years...it's a beauty!
Thanks in advance for any advice, tips or comments!

 

[mrdottle]

Is there any good ways to prevent charring the top of the bowl?

Pipe smokers have two general ways to prevent charring of the rim when lighting / relighting a pipe: apply some salive to the bowl rim or hold the pipe so the bowl rim is at perfect horizontal with the floor or ground, regardless of the pipe's shape. If it is a rusticated / blast rim, saliva may not be what you want to do. I also find the saliva method a bit uncivil, even if it is my own pipe, and even if there is no one else around. But that's just me.
I will let others answer your remaining questions.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

1. I'v read people suggest to others that they should wet the rim with spit before lighting. Me, I suggest holding your match or lighter about a half inch above the rim and draw the flame down to the tobacco to light. Most of the nonsense concerning lighters making the tobacco burn hotter stems from people not lighting the pipe properly. Even if you pack the bowl only up to 1/4th the distance from the top, you can draw enough heat down to light it from a half inch. You just need heat, not the actual flame.
2. Watch old movies of men with pipes. Unless the movie is about some aristocrat who holds a pipe in one hand bringing it to their lips occasionally to sip it like its a wine or something, you won't see smoke coming from them. I grew up around clenchers who always had a pipe hanging from their mouths. My Uncle Leon would even fall asleep with his hanging from his lips. I never once "saw" smoke. So, for me, any puffing outside the initial lighting of the pipe is too much. Light it and forget about it. The smoke will slowly drizzle into your mouth at its own pace.
A lot of discussion on here about what makes a good pipe, always has me chuckling from the sidelines. IMO, a good pipe is one that just smokes itself.
3. Me, I smoke my pipe all day. When I only had one, it was refilled and relit about 12 times a day. Now, if you do that, clean the hell out of it with a cleaner after every smoke and occasionally clean it extra well with alcohol and Qtips every now and then, because it will stink. Now that I have a rotation, I smoke a new pipe when they are handy. When I go out for some reason, I will still just take one pipe with me, or maybe two. But, starting out, I don't see why you wouldn't smoke it at will. It's YOUR pipe, YOUR decision. There is no God mandated rule for this.
Back in the day, men usually only ever had one pipe, and smoked it till they would toss it into a fireplace and make a new one.
If you can stand the taste of a corncob, get you a few of them. Me, I love the smell of warm briar...
Just my opinions...
Happy smoking, and I hope this helps. ::

 

[av8scuba]

For your question #2 (how hot is too hot): I've often heard it said that if you wouldn't put it against a baby's skin, it is too hot.
We've all got our pipes too hot (tobacco too dry, puffing too hard, windy, etc). So it's not the end of the world. But just relax and "sip" on the pipe. If it gets too hot, just put it down and let it cool. Then relight and start over again.
This is supposed to be enjoyable. ::

 

[johnnyz]

Awesome comments so far guys, thanks!
When lighting a pipe I've always just lit it anyway, never really using any kind of technique or anything. I will start holding the flame a little further away from the bowl and drag the flame into the tobacco. It makes sense!
I don't think I get my pipe too hot. I usually hold my pipe in my hand while smoking, not much of a clincher. I feel the bowl get warm, but not anything too crazy. Definitely not "hot".
I read on this forum about how some people use Q-Tips and saliva to clean off minor charring. Has anyone tried this? Any success?
Coalsmoke - I love the 999 shape too. I have a Peterson Walnut Spigot....amazing.

 

[pylorns]

Yes, in fact just last night I cleaned off on of my bowls with wetting the rim, rubbing the char off, and then on another pipe msandoval used some q-tips and a small bit of alcohol and cleaned it up great - and no the stain didn't come off.

 

[aquilas]

1) Just get some saliva on a paper towel and clean the rim with it. It will effectively take off any char after your smoke.
2) I think cosmicfolklore said it best. Just get it lit and smoke it. If you worry too much about it getting hot and this and that, you're going to miss the enjoyment that comes from pipe smoking. I mean the bowl will get warm and sometimes hot because, after all, there is something burning in there. The only thing I'd have to say is if you're smoking real slow and the pipe is getting crazy hot, might want to check if the bowl is "burning out". There was a post on the pipe sub on reddit a few days ago of a guy who bought a brand new pipe and on his 3rd smoke out of it, the pipe was getting way too hot. He looked inside the bowl and noticed cracking. Fortunately for him, he brought it back to the b&m he got it from, and they let him pick out a new pipe free of charge.
3) Since you only have 2 and since you've mentioned you plan on growing your pipe collection, just smoke what you have however and whenever you want. As long as you take care of them after each smoke and after so many smokes, they should be fine.
Enjoy your smokes, my friend! Plus, you've mentioned you're smoking Mississippi River, so I'd say you're doing fine so far =). Mississippi River is one of my favorites.

 

[fadingdaylight]

I definitely agree that you should smoke when and how you want. For the first few months I was smoking, I had one no name briar. I smoked it twice a day everyday. Then I bought a Stanwell, and started smoking it 4-5 times a day, without touching my old pipe. This went on for almost a year before I finally added another pipe to my collection. But, like these guys have said, I cleaned it out after every smoke, and did heavy cleanings every other week or so. If it feels too hot to you, let it cool. If your really dying for a smoke, set the hot pipe aside and light up your other one. You can always finish the first one later.

 

[johnnyz]

Awesome! At least now I know I can smoke whenever I want and not feel restricted. I thoroughly clean my pipe after every smoke. In fact, I think I'm going to smoke some 1-Q right now. ::

 

[mso489]

There's no rule about how many pipes you need for smoking every day, and many Forums members accumulate

many more than we need; however, six or eight wouldn't be too many if you are going to smoke a bowl or more

every day, so you can properly "rest," that is dry out, your pipes. If you rotate that many, it won't be a problem.

Another cob or two is fine. I think you might like the others to be briar. But you could get them over a year or

two, if need be. No hurry.

 

[johnnyiii]

As far as lighting and charring the rim I offer the advise of a zippo pipe lighter (the ones with a button sized hole on each side of the cage). With these when you draw you draw the flame straight down like a match with out needing a box or bunch of match packs. With a bic or the propane pipe lighter I bought you are always having to bend the flame as you draw requiring more caution.
I singed two bowls with the latter two just sitting at my desk. Equally I have driven down a bumpy road lighting with my zippo with out a blemish.