Anyone Else Get This?

[TimeKiller]

Not Joking with this question--do some folks smoke down to the bottom of the bowl?

(I'm very new to pipe smoking, so I'm just sharing my experience not trying to claim any mastery or arcane knowledge here.)

Forgive me Father, for I am a sinner: I use screens.

I did start without using the screen, always trying to embrace simplicity where possible and having read they were gratuitous tools of the devil. And yes, things went perfectly fine, and after each bowl I would dump my dottle and poked at all the unburnt strands with sadness.

I was raised in the fine art of frugality, and had it burned it into my soul in the manner which only Catholic parents can achieve. Each time I tossed those ribbons into the trash, I would think of how much effort it took to grow, and harvest, and cure, and cut, and here I am just tossing them away like a self righteous heathen. It was painful every time.

Then I tried to burn it to the bottom, and found the whole affair to be tedious and frustrating, two of the main things I am trying to avoid while enjoying the pipe, and only fared slightly better at avoiding the waste. A failure for sure.

I know that I don't know anything, but I am committed to exploring this hobby and finding my own path to make it work in the way that I want. "They make screens for a reason," I thought to myself. At least I should try it, if only to experience first hand why it's so abhorred.

What I found was a surprisingly pleasant, cool, easygoing, consistent smoke, that lasted longer, needed fewer, if any, relights... and YES!! burned my bowl down to ash. All of it.

For me, for now, this was the fix, and I don't see myself giving them up anytime soon. Maybe they are unsophisticated "training wheels" that I will never outgrow in my barbarism. Maybe I will spend time in jail when a police officer pulls me over thinking tobacco isn't all I'm smoking. Maybe they'll discover one day that stainless steel screens cause cancer. Or, maybe others are stubbornly wasting their beautiful, high quality tobacco as a cheap pipe screen. That's a question for people smarter than me.

Perhaps my sin is in using screens, or perhaps my sin is that I'm not ashamed about it. Hah!!

Now, what is my penance?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Diff folks, diff strokes! No problem; whatever works for someone.

 

[anotherbob]

if everyone thought the same things in a woman was beautiful, then most of the human race would die off. Someone has to breed the fat girls.

That is the worst pick up line I've ever heard.

 

[anotherbob]

(I'm very new to pipe smoking, so I'm just sharing my experience not trying to claim any mastery or arcane knowledge here.)

Forgive me Father, for I am a sinner: I use screens.

I did start without using the screen, always trying to embrace simplicity where possible and having read they were gratuitous tools of the devil. And yes, things went perfectly fine, and after each bowl I would dump my dottle and poked at all the unburnt strands with sadness.

I was raised in the fine art of frugality, and had it burned it into my soul in the manner which only Catholic parents can achieve. Each time I tossed those ribbons into the trash, I would think of how much effort it took to grow, and harvest, and cure, and cut, and here I am just tossing them away like a self righteous heathen. It was painful every time.

Then I tried to burn it to the bottom, and found the whole affair to be tedious and frustrating, two of the main things I am trying to avoid while enjoying the pipe, and only fared slightly better at avoiding the waste. A failure for sure.

I know that I don't know anything, but I am committed to exploring this hobby and finding my own path to make it work in the way that I want. "They make screens for a reason," I thought to myself. At least I should try it, if only to experience first hand why it's so abhorred.

What I found was a surprisingly pleasant, cool, easygoing, consistent smoke, that lasted longer, needed fewer, if any, relights... and YES!! burned my bowl down to ash. All of it.

For me, for now, this was the fix, and I don't see myself giving them up anytime soon. Maybe they are unsophisticated "training wheels" that I will never outgrow in my barbarism. Maybe I will spend time in jail when a police officer pulls me over thinking tobacco isn't all I'm smoking. Maybe they'll discover one day that stainless steel screens cause cancer. Or, maybe others are stubbornly wasting their beautiful, high quality tobacco as a cheap pipe screen. That's a question for people smarter than me.

Perhaps my sin is in using screens, or perhaps my sin is that I'm not ashamed about it. Hah!!

Now, what is my penance?

nothing wrong with that. If you follow the classic packing technique the first pinch of tobacco is basically acting as a screen and will be very minimal. Or in other words you've found a way to have an enjoyable smoke that works for you and is mostly superficially different then the way others get a good smoke.