Burning Tongue During Lighting

[kalvort]

Hello everyone I have been smoking for about 4 years now, and yet still I find that I keep burning the front of my tongue a lot of the times when I'm lighting a pipe, and even sometimes when lighting a cigar!
Am I puffing too hard? I usually use a bic lighter or something similar. I have tried moist vs dry tobacco, and yield similar results. I usually smoke outdoors, so windy conditions make it difficult for me to control the flame. Usually Virginias are the culprit (my fav), whereas aromatics like butternut burley do not have this effect usually.
My question is:

Is a bit of tongue burn normal? Does everyone experience this frequently or do I need to work more on my lighting and packing?
I have posted about this before, where I mentioned that even at night when Im brushing my teeth, the toothpaste burns my tongue if I've had a pipe that afternoon.
Thank you all for your help in advance, and I hope that others who have similar problems can benefit as well!

 

[Waning Embers]

Sounds like you are drawing too hard, or have the flame too close to the tobacco.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Yeah I'd try keeping the flame off the tobacco when lighting..and letting your puffs draw the flame to it.

 

[hobie1dog]

Slow down buddy, way down. Angle the pipe so that it is going to the roof of your mouth for starters.

 

[J. Mayo]

Took me a while to keep from doing this too. But like everyone said, hold the flame up away from the tobacco and use small little puffs to draw it down so that it barely tickles the top of the bowl.

 

[jpmcwjr]

All good advice. If your packing is quite loose, hot air can make its way to your tongue. But it could be something in your blend that's an irritant. What are you smoking?

 

[fitzy]

Matches can help as you can't put the flame down into the bowl like you can with a lighter.

 

[perdurabo]

Stop sucking that thing to hard.

 

[kalvort]

Thank you all for the great advice! Will be trying your tips today
- Don't put flame directly to tobacco

- Angle the pipe to the roof of the mouth

- Go as slow as possible when lighting the pipe
I just wish I had a place where I can regularly smoke indoors to improve my technique. Hopefully in the future!
Many thanks again

-AJ

 

[kalvort]

@jpmcwjr - that actually could be one of the reasons as I have been packing looser, will try packing tighter this time! As to what tobacco: I think it's a range of blends from virginias to english, so I think it's my technique more that the blend itself.
@fitzy That is true! Matches burn less hot compared to lighters, but smoking outside makes using matches a hassle, especially here in the UK, which is why I prefer a bic lighter or any other pipe lighter.

 

[madox07]

kalvort I recommend the breath method to all members that complain about tongue bite. I am not sure all the guys around here would agree, but learning to master the breath method did wonders for me ..

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

have tried moist vs dry tobacco, and yield similar results. I usually smoke outdoors, so windy conditions make it difficult for me to control the flame. Usually Virginias are the culprit (my fav), whereas aromatics like butternut burley do not have this effect usually.

That sounds very similar to my experience.
Chances are the best thing you can get is a Butane pipe lighter that lets you throw a soft flame a long ways so that you don't have to draw any differently than a normal relaxed sip.

I actually haven't bought one of those yet (I'll probably get a Peterson pipe lighter next time Pipedivan.com has a good pipe sale), but for the time being I have found something else that works: https://www.amazon.com/Vertigo-Lotus-Cyclone-Triple-Lighter/dp/B00K04EQ2Y

Yes it will horribly scorch your pipe rim, but if you don't puff while lighting it can't burn your mouth. Throwing this much heat at the pipe I can't call it anything but destructive, but it works.

To protect the pipe I bake a layer of ash and honey on the rim, but I still can't say for sure that I'm not destroying the pipe using a triple torch so that should be a last resort.
The key principle to remember is that you are not allowed to draw any harder than the relaxed, subtle, "barely moving any air" sipping that you would normally use while the tobacco is smoldering perfectly.
I have used a single flame torch successfully before but I can't seem to make those work reliably, though that could have just been my own ignorance of maintenance on a butane lighter and I didn't completely drain pressure before re-filling (which lounds like the most common reason a butane lighter stops working, they get airlocked and need to be drained completely).