Best No Nonsense Way to Pack and Break in a Pipe

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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
17,816
32,217
47
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Don’t think about it is the best way 😜
Pack it loosely, press it down and repeat until filling 3/4 of the bowl.
Smoke that new pipe however you please and try what ever tobacco you want to smoke but let it cool down between smokes.
There’s going to be some trial and error but that’s part of the process.
It will all come together pretty quickly.
I agree so much with this. All the methods are just ways to get a person who has never packed a pipe close to a good packing job. I suggest trying a few and seeing how they work for you and then naturally evolving to just packing the pipe. Packing methods are kind of like training wheels in my opinion. Experiement. Also you can use a pipe tool to tighten or loosen a pack as you go.
 

Aylesbury Pike

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 9, 2024
178
1,464
Northern Europe
After much consternation when I started smoking, the method that works for me is to gravity fill pinch by pinch, tapping the side of the bowl as I go. Once I get to the top I do a very light tamp using the weight of the tamper and then gravity fill again to the top (usually just one more pinch or so). Then another very light tamp.

I'd advise packing on the very loose side to start and experimenting. You can packing the tobacco down further with your tamper while smoking if it becomes apparent that it's too loose.

Don't overthink it, you'll get it eventually and then it'll be second nature.
 

upnorth1

Lifer
Oct 7, 2017
1,096
4,038
La Belle Province, Canada
It’s like baking bread or cooking rice. Keep trying and you’ll get there. When I started over half a century ago I had no internet or help and a bunch of goopy aromatics. Persevere and you’ll get there. Nowadays I just stuff it and light up, but that’s an over simplification of years of trial and error with many different tobaccos and pipes. Heck, my father, grandfather and great grandfather did ok too.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
12,702
19,764
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
When I started, I carefully loaded only the bottom third and slowly built up cake. Last pipe I purchased, Peterson's in Dublin, I loaded in the store, full bowl, and was blissfully smoking away as I left and strolled, enjoying the buskers, Grafton Street. That was ten years ago or so. I learned over sixty years to do as I please with my briar pipes. I no longer consider a break-in period to be of use. Always remember, the pipe is simply a tool at it's most basic. Do as what brings you pleasure. Keep the experience as simple or complicated as fits your personality.
 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,737
44,643
Detroit
Don't worry about packing technique that much.
I break in a new pipe by smoking one bowl a day,of a fairly neutral tobacco that I know well, every day, for two weeks. I'll perform a light cleaning - cleaners through the stem, clean the rim, wipe out the bowl with a paper towel - after I smoke it. After two weeks, I put it into the rotation and give it a nice rest. That's it.
 

fr0st

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 7, 2014
200
1,079
Colorado, USA
Combustion requires three things: oxygen, fuel, and heat.

If the bowl ends up too tightly packed you can always dump it out and try again. I just did this. A little ash on my fingers, but the tobacco’s still fine.
 

BayouGhost

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 10, 2024
291
3,413
Louisiana
As you said, no nonsense.... I'll be a bit flippant (vs. saying "not to be flippant, but....) and say that as much though goes into how to put leaf into a bowl as goes into "How do I get my salad onto the fork?" or "what is the best process for tying my shoes?". I have found that just dropping it in and using a pipe tool to tamp it, test draw and if needed, take that pipe tool pick and loosen it back up (rare) or tamp it a bit more works best.
 

PApiper63

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 13, 2024
143
651
Been smoking a pipe for 40 years. Through trial and error I have learned a couple important things that work for me.
1. Dry tobacco. I dry all of my tobacco to an almost crispy state… Even aromatics.
2. A tighter pack burns cooler. I used to pack my pipe much looser than I do now and I had more tongue bite. About 20 years ago I was visiting with the pipe maker. He wanted me to try a particular tobacco so he grabbed a pipe and packed it for me. I noticed that he packed it much firmer than I did. I asked him about it and he said one of the big fallacies of pipe smoking was a loose pack. He said a steady and slow cadence provides enough airflow to keep the tobacco lit and to keep the pipe cooler. I have found this to be true.
3. I don't do anything special to break in a pipe. In fact when I get a new pipe, I smoke it multiple times in a row.
4. I always wipe my pipe bowls out with a paper towel when I am finished smoking. This tends to build a harder cake. It takes a while to develop that cake, but I've never had a problem with this.
5. Don't force light the bottom of a bowl. If the bottom tobacco doesn't stay lit after I relight it a time or two I dump it. It's not worth the tongue bite.

This works for me, but your mileage may vary
 
Aug 11, 2022
2,884
22,640
Cedar Rapids, IA
The funny thing about this topic is that once you start putting it in words, it's bound to sound more complicated and fussy than it really is! To the newbie, it's worth discussing not to pack the tobacco too tight, dry it a bit if it's too wet, don't smoke too fast especially with a new pipe, watch out for high winds, etc, but once you've got it all down, it really does feel like you're simply putting tobacco in a pipe and smoking it.
 
Apr 10, 2025
14
25
29
I haven't been smoking a pipe for all that long but when I do get a new pipe I personally prefer to strictly smoke what I consider to be my "palate refresher" blend out of it. For the first week at lease. Right now that blend is half and half but only because I have an abundance of it. I Keep it on the drier side because I've noticed there's less of a taste to it. When half and half is drier it's like a "neutral blend". During this period of breaking in I will determine if it will be a pipe for my my go to blends which is English or if it's will be for aromatics. I know some people will smoke skin flakes all the way to aromatics and burleys out of the same pipe but I'm picky. My pipes have designated blends.
 
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Apr 10, 2025
14
25
29
During this period of breaking in I will determine if it will be a pipe for my my go to blends which is English or if it's will be for aromatics.
I should have mentioned what determined if it will be for English or aromatics. Heat. I see aromatics as the "dessert" blend. I like more heat when it comes to aros. But like desserts it's not something I consume frequently. Unless it's ice cream!! I've been pulled over on multiple occasions because they thought I was intoxicated. Nahh brain freeze! One instance I was at a stop light and a cop pulls up beside me to make his turn. He glances over to see my goofy ass with spoon midway to mouth!! He was the first cop to pull me over for driving under the freeze! 🤣
 
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