Burning my mouth while lighting

[scmkr]

I'm experiencing a bit of a paradox when it comes to smoking. Even with very dry tobacco using the Frank method, I am having trouble keeping it lit for more than a few sips.
You always read "that's ok, just relight".
The issue with this is that the relighting so frequently is burning my mouth. I've tried matches and a Kiribi lighter. I hold the flame above the bowl and suck the flame into the tobacco. Here it's sometimes difficult to know how far to hold it, as the farther away it is, the longer it takes and I think this is also burning my mouth.
What am I doing wrong here? I feel like just a few months ago I was doing this better as my mouth wasn't burnt all the time. Now it seems like every time. My technique is getting worse, not better!
Any help would be appreciated!

 

[workman]

Do you tamp it a little in the beginning to get an even surface?

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

The Frank method of packing, although a good technique, can also be easy to over pack your tobacco. Basically you're gravity feeding tobacco into your bowl until it's full, and then you pack it down a bit and take a big glob of tobacco and stuff that in there too. And then you lightly press down the tobacco with your thumbs while turning the pipe around and around and..... really it's kind of much, don't you think? I've used it, and sometimes it works great. Sometimes it overpacks, making it hard to keep your tobacco lit, causing you to puff harder to keep it lit and more frequent relights when it goes out. Try simply filling the bowl with tobacco, press it down a bit and see if you need a bit more tobacco in there. If so add a bit more. You want it kinda springy when you press down on it. Check your draw. It should be a bit open. If it's tight, dump it and redo it. Sprinkle some of those little tiny bits of tobacco at the bottom of your pile onto the top of your bowl. It's kindling. Light, tamp, relight if necessary (first light goes out more often than not with any method), and enjoy.
Also when tamping throughout the smoke. Don't tamp too hard. This can over compress your tobacco just like overpacking causing the same problem. Lightly press when tamping. You're simply lightly pressing the embers back down onto the tobacco.
Edit to add: If your puffing like crazy to keep it lit, you're going to burn your mouth.

 

[badbeard]

To add to what Anthony has already said(very sound advice btw), when you light/re-light taking long draws and pulling the flame down into the tobacco is problematic and will almost always result in a lot of heat on the tongue. I suffered serious bite from doing this when I first started, so I feel your pain.. and my tongue bares the scars.

Instead, try taking very small repeated puffs, only allowing the flame to hover slightly above the tobacco. The flame doesn't need to actually touch the tobacco to ignite it. The best way I can describe this is, and you'll feel stupid doing it, is to puff similar to the way you might make little kissing noises.

 

[midwestpipesmoker70]

One of the first lessons I learned is that it is super easy to over fill and over pack the bowl. Unless messing with shag or ribbon I try to use the gravity method whenever I can. Drop some tobacco in, tap the bowl a few time, drop some more baccy in tap and then I just stuff a bit more in the top until I like the draw. You can find the gravity method on youtube.

 

[sablebrush52]

Good advice above to which I'll add the following:
If you don't already do this, try letting your tobacco dry until it is just shy of bone dry, then pack, and pack a bit looser. Puff lightly to get the tobacco burning. Shouldn't need a lot of suction. That will help save your tongue from getting singed. Once it's going, change to slow sips and wisps of smoke, just enough to keep the tobacco simmering, and the tobacco will release all of its flavors.

 

[panamacharlie]

As others have said, pack so that you need just very gentle sucks to get it going. If needed, do multiple char lights, tamping very gently between lights.

 

[saltedplug]

Lighting and the bottom of the bowl are my two hotspots. I'm thinking packing may be the problem. I gravity fill and only apply any pressure if the cut of the tobacco has prevented the fill. When I apply slight downward pressure the tobacco gives way very easily. On the other hand if the bowl is reasonably full, I push down not at all.
The tighter the pack the more relights. You may be concerned to fill the bowl to the maximum for a longer smoke. For me that's nothing but problems with the airway and the burn.

 

[olkofri]

Been having the same problem here. Gonna try badbeard's advice on the puffing when relighting thing.
Relights when the pipe's closer to the bottom of the bowl is a recipe for tongue burn in my case. I'd rather toss the leftover tobacco than force myself to smoke it and then not being able to smoke for a week because my mouth needs to heal.

 

[badbeard]

Just curious - Did you happen to change the tobaccos you are smoking vs. a few months ago when you felt like you were more successful?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hold the flame much further from the tobacco on lighting. The tip of the flame should be above the tobacco so you don't over torch it. Thus, even bottom of chamber can be relit with the right technique and no dragon effect.

 

[olkofri]

Hold the flame much further from the tobacco on lighting

I've tried this advice, which jpmcwjr has given in past threads, and it has indeed reduced the tongue-scorching.
A question for you, jpmcwjr: is it possible to relight the bottom of the bowl with the flame hovering over the pipe's rim? Or do you indeed have to stick the flame into the bowl, even though you would still not touch the toby with it, in order to light the last quarter?

 

[jpmcwjr]

The tip of the flame gets drawn in slightly, but it's the superheated air past the tip that does the trick. So, yes!

 

[scmkr]

Thanks everyone. Couple answers to questions:

• Yes, I do a charring light or three.[/*]
  
• I do dry the very wet tobaccos, but I haven't really figured out how much is too much, especially for something like Mac Baren Latakia Flake.[/*]
  
• I have changed tobaccos a lot, but I felt like I was doing better a few months ago when I was smoking aromatics exclusively, which I realize doesn't make any sense. I haven't really settled on a specific blend yet. The easiest at this point has been Dunhill Nightcap/965.[/*]
  

I will give some of the advice you have given me a try.
I think one of my other issues is underestimating the time it takes for my mouth to heal after I've burnt it really good. It's been a few days since my last smoke so maybe I'll have a bowl today.
Thanks again!
Edit: apparently the UL and LI stuff does nothing on this forum, haha. D'oh