Ash Holes Put my Pipe Out!

[aspiring_sage]

Whenever I try digging the ash out of my pipe, it goes out and I have to relight. Any tips??


I tend to pack dense with the three layer method, and I don’t tamp much. Maybe I’m packing too dense, but I don’t usually need any tamping.

Since the pipe is gonna go out anyway, at the last 1/4 bowl when I have to do my first relight: I just blow gently so only the fine ash comes out, then light and enjoy what remains. Good enough but messy

I do know there are people that do slow smoking competitions that must have better methods to get the ash out. Share your wisdom and help me out. ?

 

[AJL67]

Im a noob, but i don’t dig out the ash, if there is that much i will just tip the pipe and give it a gentle tap will my hand to knock out any of the true white ash and then relight, seems to work for me.

 

[JOHN72]

I've been doing it since I started smoking a pipe. I don't throw the ash away, every moment. I tamp lightly and if it goes out, I give fire to that surface layer of ash. At the moment I perform this technique. Re-burning fresh tobacco over and over again, for the moment, is not satisfactory to my taste.

 

[reloader]

When I need to dump ash from the pipe I just put it over the coffee can I keep outside and give it a light flick to toss the ash into the can. I pack on the light side and tamp gently only when needed. Its not a big deal if you have to relight every now and again, drying and packing well will reduce the need to relight.

 

[ashdigger]

Contrary to my name I’m not a pipe ashdigger.

I’m dig bigger ashes. Why does that sound wrong?

Any way. Don’t dig, just tamp and smoke your pipe.

 

[AJL67]

Contrary to my name I’m not a pipe ashdigger.

I’m dig bigger ashes. Why does that sound wrong?

Any way. Don’t dig, just tamp and smoke your pipe.

?I like big ash, i cannot deny ?

 

[lightxmyfire]

I typically use the gravity method to pack. Just sprinkle the tobacco in, give the pipe a few shakes, maybe a gentle tap on the back of my hand to settle it, and continue until the bowl is just over 3/4 full, then I sprinkle the last little bit in and sort of clean it up off the rim by shoving it in and pushing down very lightly.

I get great results from this, and depending on the pipe I usually have to do one maybe two ash dumps while I'm smoking. I do this by using the long thin nail-like poker on my czech tool, I get in there and very gently stir the ash on top being careful to not poke loose the harder not fully burnt bits of tobacco. I think it was on the country squire radio show where JD described this as stirring the gravy in your mashed potatoes volcano, you wanna just stir the gravy and not the potatoes, so I try to imagine that and whenever I feel potatoes I just move away. Then I turn it over and let the loosed ash fall right out, maybe give it a shake or two. Flip it back over and poke any un-burnt bits off the wall so they lay evenly on top and light it right back up and proceed as normal. This almost always results in the tobacco coming back to life, staying lit better, and more flow of smoke, and the ash tends to go where I dump it and not all over.

I'm also tamping as needed, and I've found that ash dumps are usually required even if I'm tamping very lightly. Normally I would say not to worry about things like the number of tamps or relights, it's all part of the process especially tamping. If you're spending your time worrying about that you may be missing on the enjoyment of smoking your pipe, at the end of the day IMO it doesn't matter unless you're having issues, IE really fighting to keep it lit, which could be caused by packing or drying, or tamping too hard, before the ash is really getting in your way.

That being said not tamping at all sounds odd to me, but hey if that's working for you, by all means, do your thing!

Good luck and happy smokes!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I tamp the ashes down, not remove them... unless the ash is causing a noticeable problem, which is almost never.

 

[mso489]

I also don't dump much ash unless the layer seems extra thick, which is rare. If you get a good ember going, usually there's no need to dump ash, and tamping only needs a light touch to keep the edges of the tobacco settled in the ember.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I don’t tamp much.

There's you're problem.

have better methods to get the ash out.

I only dump my pipe when I'm finished smoking.

 

[kcghost]

Relighting is not a crime. When you need to just do it. Most pipe smokers do this without noticing it.

 

[warren]

Whenever I try digging the ash out of my pipe, it goes out and I have to relight. Any tips??

Don't. Just tap out the loose ash if necessary.

 

[PipeIT]

Packing is a personal preference, I do something similar to the Frank Method. I just sprinkle in a pinch at a time, gravity filling, and when I reach the top, I gently use the heel of my thumb to even out the top, and gently press in, and then I spin the pipe around, while the heel of my thumb rests inside the chamber, this slightly packs/tightens the tabac.

Afterwards, I gently scrape out ash as it appears only on the top, and for tamping, I only let the weight of a Czech tool even out the top, I never press down with any force to tamp.

Don’t remove all the ash, until you see only black charred looking tabac at the top, this will end up making the tabac taste bad, until you get a little ash forming again. It’s like a small amount of ash helps to act maybe as a filter.

 

[warren]

Just learn to "codger" load and enjoy your bowl. Stick your pipe in the pouch, load, light and enjoy. There's no point in over complicating what should be an easy, enjoyable experience. Some people are wired for "complicated" though. So, whatever floats your boat and gets you a decent smoking experience.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Whenever I try digging the ash out of my pipe, it goes out and I have to relight. Any tips??

Don't do that!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

What I do can vary depending on the cut of the tobacco and how deep the chamber of the pipe is that I'm smoking at the time. Sometimes, I just tamp and smoke all the way down. There have been times I've smoked something like an Oom Paul with a deep chamber and the thick layer of ash makes it difficult to draw the flame down far enough to get a good relight. At that point, I'll do pretty much what @lightxmyfire does. I'll use the tool in my 8deco tamper, stir the tamped ash without digging up the unburned tobacco to loosen it, tip the pipe to dump the loose ash, scrape any tobacco off the wall of the chamber, tamp flat and relight.

 

[jaytex1969]

I usually only dump the ash if relights are hindered by the accumulation of ash. I only dump ash when the pipe has already gone out.


I use the "KFC" method for dealing with ash.

Imagine you are settling down for a fine gourmet meal that includes KFC mashed potatoes and gravy.

When you slowly plunge the plastic spork into the gravy, there is an ever so light resistance. When you plunge deeper, you eventually encounter more resistance from the potatoes.

In pipe parlance, the ash is the gravy and the remaining tobacco is the mashed potatoes.

You don't want to disturb the potatoes, just gently loosen the gravy and then tip it out of the pipe.

If you hit that 2nd level of resistance, you've dug too deep and are now disturbing the tobacco.

If you've not maintained an even burn across the whole surface of the bowl, you may find a "hole" or "depression" in the center of the remaining tobacco after dumping the ash.

If this occurs, this is the one time you may want to "rebalance" the remaining tobacco. Gently break up the un-burnt high spots and then re-level the bowl with a gentle tamp or two.

 

[Searock Fan]

Packing is a personal preference, I do something similar to the Frank Method. I just sprinkle in a pinch at a time, gravity filling, and when I reach the top, I gently use the heel of my thumb to even out the top, and gently press in, and then I spin the pipe around, while the heel of my thumb rests inside the chamber, this slightly packs/tightens the tabac.

Afterwards, I gently scrape out ash as it appears only on the top, and for tamping, I only let the weight of a Czech tool even out the top, I never press down with any force to tamp.

Don’t remove all the ash, until you see only black charred looking tabac at the top, this will end up making the tabac taste bad, until you get a little ash forming again. It’s like a small amount of ash helps to act maybe as a filter.

I just watched these three videos. For heaven's sake, in the time he takes to load his pipe I could finish 3 bowls and eat a cow!

 

[Reggie]

Contrary to my name I’m not a pipe ashdigger.

I’m dig bigger ashes. Why does that sound wrong?

Any way. Don’t dig, just tamp and smoke your pipe.

Looks like you are one letter away from being in the forum jail!

 

[Humblepipe]

My favorite aspect about this thread are two words in the thread's title... "Ash Holes".