Ash???

[Country Bladesmith]

If a tamp and/or relight won’t take, I find that dumping some ash out and relighting will rectify things. Other than that, I don’t bother.

 

[mso489]

I rarely do this, but sometimes it works best. Mostly tamping settles the ember and makes things good.

 

[mindglue]

I still experimenting with tamping. When I smoke couple bowls of the same tobacco, I am trying to find if there is any difference in taste, when tamping few times VS no tamping. Hard to say, I think it's a matter of the individual technique and experience.