Thank you for posting your progress. It will be interesting reading, going forward, as you try different techniques, and different blends.
A Newbie Log
- Thread starter InWithBothFeet
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Cult Blood Red Moon in the MM Country Gentleman corncob. I let it dry for 20 minutes or so but it was still too wet. Hard to light and keep lit, and I got a wet bowl and tongue bite in short order. I may have detected some slight cherry flavor, but it was slight and I gave up on it pretty quickly. Overall a bad experience. I don't know if the tongue bite was the wet or the lack of a filter or a combination of both. I'll try it again at a later date and let a pinch dry overnight before I do. I liked the shape of the corncob bowl. It was very comfortable to hold.
I find the "flavor" rather overwhelming. That style really isn't for me.
Other blend styles will give you a vastly different smoking experience. Keep exploring.
Cornell & Diehl St. Patrick's Reserve 2024. I got this tobacco free with my Peterson bent Dublin and that's what I smoked it in. I let this dry overnight. Thinking that I may have overdone that, I added pinch from the tin when I bagged it this morning with the idea to let it normalize over the day. The result was a dry bowl and a dry filter. Bowl never got very warm. I think I had to relight twice or 3 times when it was clear that it was going out but wasn't quite dead yet. I didn't think to try that "two fingers over the bowl" technique to revive a dying ember. I just relit. No discernable taste other than burning leaves. There may have been a little nic, but not much. Seems at this point, that it doesn't matter what tobacco I'm trying, it all basically tastes the same. The only difference is the intensity of the ash tray.
One YT presenter said that the ashtray (my descriptor, not his) was always going to be there and the "taste" was a nuance that you pick out of base smoke flavor. It's not suddenly going to be a jolly rancher if you smoke it just right.
Can you describe a "spicy" tobacco to me? I got a tiny bit of what I am calling bite when I relit, but maybe I'm wrong.
One YT presenter said that the ashtray (my descriptor, not his) was always going to be there and the "taste" was a nuance that you pick out of base smoke flavor. It's not suddenly going to be a jolly rancher if you smoke it just right.
Can you describe a "spicy" tobacco to me? I got a tiny bit of what I am calling bite when I relit, but maybe I'm wrong.
Addendum to the above... reading some other threads here suggested that packing too lightly makes it burn too hot also because there is more room for flame and heat to propagate into the tobacco. Perhaps I will try packing firmer. It does compress a lot during the smoke and subsequent tamping.
In my extremely limited experience, my cobs really do seem to smoke better when I'm not scared to put some tobacco in them. But then I think I tamp them too hard. Hopefully I can practice this weekend.
I've also read that with the small bowls of the cheap cobs your margin of error is smaller.
I've also read that with the small bowls of the cheap cobs your margin of error is smaller.
The country gentleman is in their XL line. I'm not at all versed in the differences that bowl size makes other than one holds more tobacco than another. The cob I have definitely has a larger bowl than my Peterson. Seems like I picked up somewhere that the taste that smokers describe doesn't come from the burning tobacco itself, but the tobacco under it that is warmed by the ember. I don't know how accurate that is.
I have come to really appreciate OGS. It's not a flavor-bomb or nicotine-bomb. But it has a gentle way of letting you know if you're pushing it too hard, and it's that "hot" or "ashy" taste. I definitely get that on the charring light or relight. But after that, if I take tiny gentle puffs, that sort of bubble-gummy sweetness will start to present itself and I'll know I'm on the right track. Lots of Virginias will really bite or burn you if you puff too hard, and it's almost too late when that happens -- your palate will be dulled, and whether you try smoking harder or lightening up to regain flavor, it won't be the same until your palate recovers some time later. But OGS is really forgiving -- if I ease up after puffing too hard, it'll settle right down and I'll be back on track with that light Virginia sweetness. By helping to guide me toward better technique, it has helped me get more out of other blends. 
This morning, I smoked some Picayune Pancake, aka 2nd Breakfast from The Country Squire's LOTR series with my coffee. This smoke was mild and unless I'm fooling myself, there may have been something there other than smoke (progress?). One retrohale caused a pause and a "Wait, what was that, something different?" I did intentionally pack this one tighter while maintaining an easy draw. The bowl did get hot, probably a result of me enjoying it a bit more than I should. I let it go out and cool down. I scraped out the last 3/8" or so of tobacco at the bottom when it became noticeably harsher. Bowl and filter were wet. No discernable nic hit which is good.
Due to my failure to find a recognizable codger blend locally and if I did, they seem to have stopped offering pouches and have gone to 14oz tubs, I have ordered a tin of Cornell and Diehl Briar Fox, which by the reviews is a mild unflavored burley/virginia mix.
Due to my failure to find a recognizable codger blend locally and if I did, they seem to have stopped offering pouches and have gone to 14oz tubs, I have ordered a tin of Cornell and Diehl Briar Fox, which by the reviews is a mild unflavored burley/virginia mix.
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Riverboat Queen aka Rivendell from The Country Squire's LOTR series. This is by far my favorite. No bite, not too bad on the nicotine but it was noticeable, easy on the nostrils, stays lit without a lot of effort. No drying time. Warm but not hot bowl. The least of what I call the ash tray of what I've tried to date. Still can't say I'm picking out individual flavors though. Damp bowl and filter.
Gotta add to that, the nicotine kinda crept up on me after I put the pipe down, but I've not been feeling the best the last couple days. Don't know if one affected the other.
Briar Fox... packed too firmly, didn't go well. Nic hit halfway through the bowl, scraped out the rest. These posts have become fairly repetitive. Same thing different blend. I believe this will be my last post on this thread until I have something different to say. 
As you gain experience, you will, most likely, have different things that you will want to share.
So as new as i am the tabaco i am getting seems super moist from local shops jars. What would be a suggested way and time to dry?
If it's p-glycol laced aromatic nothing will dry it out. Then you need a really light pack and some relights are inevitable. You could microwave it but that never worked for me.
If it's just sugared - sugar is a humectant - it should dry enough in a few hours.
Some like straight VA will dry enough in 15 to 30 minutes.
Ultimately you have to be the judge because your room air humidity and the type of tobacco varies so much it's really specific to your specific use case. Also your packing and cadence play a part too..so this is all a rough order of magnitude estimate.
Scraped out the rest... because you didn't like the flavor? C&D burley blends are known for having decent amounts of nicotine. With some strong blends, I'll notice the nicotine hitting hard early on, run a pipe cleaner through to wick up excess moisture, and then set the pipe aside to resume in a little bit. Unlike with cigars, the flavor is often fine (perhaps even improved) when you relight that pipe later. Something to try!Briar Fox... packed too firmly, didn't go well. Nic hit halfway through the bowl, scraped out the rest. These posts have become fairly repetitive. Same thing different blend. I believe this will be my last post on this thread until I have something different to say.
What I took from some of the vids I've been watching is that the nic hit is more likely to happen in the last half of the bowl as the tobacco soaks up the smoke from the first half and acts sorta as the first filter. 
Ok, I said I wasn't going to do this again, but I think my taste buds might have atrophied and fallen off. Peter Stokkebye English Oriental Supreme... Smoked fine, more than average relights some nic but not too bad. Taste? Can't really tell a huge difference from 1Q. The intensity is different, but the same basic taste.
Ok, I said I wasn't going to do this again, but I think my taste buds might have atrophied and fallen off. Peter Stokkebye English Oriental Supreme... Smoked fine, more than average relights some nic but not too bad. Taste? Can't really tell a huge difference from 1Q. The intensity is different, but the same basic taste.
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I'm going to jinx myself saying this but I've had a few more bowls of that English Oriental blend and after a day at work that turned sour toward the end, sitting out back alone with my pipe watching the birds squirt poop out their butts was quite nice. How do they not have a nasty rash back there?