So what we learned is Harris likes to smoke his tobacco sopping wet. ?
If I liked my tobacco sopping wet I would smoke my Samuel Gawith flakes right out of a just popped tin. I find that my SG flakes can dry 4-5 hours before they are ready. Now a flake like Capstan Blue flake in my opinion comes at the perfect moisture level. The flake is soft and moves quite easily. I only need one flake to fill a group 4-5 sized pipe once I have folded and stuffed it. Capstan Blue Flake is in my opinion the easiest flake to smoke because it comes at a humidity level that is perfect for me. Once I have it folded and stuffed, a quick charring light and then a good true light and I am off and running. It smokes as easy as anything in my cellar. I feel that flakes need a bit of moisture in them so they burn nice and cool and you can pack them in your pipe . If a flake is too dry, it cracks and becomes just a bunch of broken flakes. If you like broken flakes that is cool We all have out ways of doing things. I know some people like to dry their tobacco to almost crispy and that is how they enjoy it. I have found over the years that I like some moisture as I get to control the burn better and when I load my pipe it is easier to pack it. I fill my pipes pretty well. When I check the draw, I want to feel some resistance. If I pack loosely it burns too quickly and creates a hotter less flavorful experience.
There are times when I fill a bowl with a flake that is too big for the bowl. I will cram it in hopping I can get a draw when I put a pipe cleaner into the bowl creating an airway. Most times this works once in a while I will have to un pack the pipe and try again. No big deal.
For me a tight pack makes the pipe smoke so much cooler and the cooler it is the more flavor I get.
There are times when the pipe will start to tighten up impeding the draw. I take a pipe cleaner jam it into the bowl with the stem on and it creates an air hole and I keep on smoking . This system I use if for a specific flake. I have other systems for different types of flakes.
Earlier today I smoked a bowl of 2012 St James flake. I waited and waited while smoking other things and finally I felt it was dry enough after some 4-5 hours. SG flakes are like beef jerky. they are tough and leather like most times. The last tin of an SG flake that wasn't jerky was a 2004 FVF. I was amazed at how thin and pliable the flakes were in that particular tin. I was actually a little pissed as I asked my self why can't they do that every time. So today's jerky was dry enough and I folded and stuffed it into the bowl. I kept a bit out and made a nice pile of kindling for it. I lit up the kindling, got it going. Moved the kindling around and then went for the true light and really got a nce big cherry going. For me this burns better when I pay attention and don't allow many relights. The tobacco flavor was great, it reminds me why I deal with this pain n the ass flake. I had put in one of my larger group 5's or could be a small 6 That sucker burned a good 3 hours and it was tasty the whole way down.
There are many flakes in my cellar that require a different method than the two I just mentioned. Stonehaven is one, Peterson University Flake need one similar to Mac Baren Old Dark Fired.
So far over y 20 years of pipe smoking I still find new things to learn. Trying to find one thing that works on all blends is not something I have ever tried to accomplish, there are just too many variables.
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