Clear Up Some Confusion?

[toddryan84]

Hey everyone! Sorry for starting that thread that got a little ugly, I went to go reply today and saw it was closed
I've been trying to find answers to some questions I have but haven't seemed to get anything concise enough...
1. What is the tried and true method of breaking in a pipe? I've read and heard so many things that I can't tell what the right methodology is
2. Dedicating a pipe to tobaccos? Is this really a thing or more of an anal retentive thing to do? I've smoked a variety of different tobaccos in my pipes including some aro's (although not much because I don't like them) typically, when I am unsure of a tobacco, I smoke it in my Cob. I think my Rattray's Bulldog I've dedicated to English Blends and VaPer but I'm sure I've smoked other stuff in it....
3. How do I keep the smoke cool? What is the correct puffing cadence? Why do I still have issues keeping my pipes lit, even after drying the tobacco?
Thanks in advance for the help :D

 

[briarblues]

Todd
1 - there are a number of "tried and true " methods. When I began I was told to smoke the first bowl from top to bottom. Then smoke the bottom 1/3 for a few ounces, then go to half bowls, then full bowls, to ensure a bottom cake was built. I have also heard using this but only 1/2 bowls. Personally, now I fill to the top, smoke to the bottom, from bowl one through each bowl after. No specific method.
2 - some pipe enjoyers do dedicate specific pipes to certain tobacco types. This makes sense, to me. If you smoke a heavily flavored aromatic and then followed it with a Latakia blend, they two blends might "battle" each other, and you'd never be able to enjoy either blend fully. Personally I only smoke Virginia and Virginia / Perique blends, and I do not have specific pipes for specific brands or blends.
3 - part is puffing rate, which may be different for each pipe smoker. It will depend on how tight / loose you pack a pipe, how dry / wet the tobacco is, how open the drilling through stem and shank are etc. Basically you find your own rate. The one thing I have learned is .... if I am chatting with someone and my pipe keeps going out, I'm talking too much.
Regards

Michael J. Glukler

 

[zack24]

I fill to the top, smoke to the bottom, from bowl one through each bowl after. No specific method

That works for me as well...

 

[saintpeter]

I believe you will get a multitude of different answers. For me, however, I am not too worried about breaking in a pipe. All three questions are answered in my case because I pretty much smoke one tobacco. Carter Hall. I just load and smoke. As it is primarily one tobacco I know it fairly intimately and I guess the pipe is dedicated by my lack tobacco imagination. Also, knowing the tobacco I have a general idea, even in a new pipe, as to the timing and cadence needed to keep everything cool.

 

[toddryan84]

Personally, I think the load full and smoke to bottom (and then continue thereon-after) is what appeals to me and makes the most sense. When I first started smoking, I did the full bowl, 1/3 bowl, 1/2 bowl and I encountered a lot of issues with it. I'm sure a lot of it was due to my lack of experience.
How long does it take for a pipe to begin picking up flavors of other tobaccos? Is there a way to "reset" your pipes, or remove a flavor from them?

 

[mso489]

Breaking in a pipe has for me turned out to be smoking it until it offers its optimal smoke. I didn't find the fractional bowls helped. In many cases, the pipes smoke nicely from the start, but also most improve over the first twenty or thirty smokes, and maybe over the first few years too. I'm not a cake builder, so that doesn't play into it. I wipe out the ash after each smoke and only develop a thin carbon layer, and this seems to preserve pipes nicely over decades. I don't own or need a reamer.

 

[thomasw]

How long does it take for a pipe to begin picking up flavors of other tobaccos? Is there a way to "reset" your pipes, or remove a flavor from them?

That depends on the tobaccos smoked. Latakia, aromatics and lakelands will tend to flavour a briar pipe to an extent (some like to dedicate pipes to such blends so that burleys and VAs aren't ghosted with those flavours). To remove such flavours and clean a pipe, I favour the salt treatment. If you do a search here or youtube, you will find many detailed instructions on this procedure.

 

[toddryan84]

@briarblues
I know you've helped chime in on this too, but I have had one heck of a time trying to keep my pipe lit, no matter how I pack, how dry the tobacco is, how I puff etc. Idk what the issue is, it's consistent in all of my pipes too which tells me it's either something I'm doing wrong, or the atmosphere. Even when I've smoked bone dry tobacco (tobacco that literally sounds like crispy dried leaves) I still get burn issues and relight issues. I also think I have a tendency to "panic" and I obsessively relight or puff too hard to keep it lit and then all my tobacco turns bitter and charred.
It has been frustrating because I never encountered issues like this with cigars, some of my cigars would burn unevenly which I was always really good at correcting and once in a blue moon my cigars would go out if I didn't puff for a long time. Other than that, I quite enjoyed cigars....the reason I strayed away from cigars was primarily the smell. As much as I love the smell of cigars and cigar smoke, it would stay on me for DAYS (especially since I had an affinity for smoking rather strong and very complex sticks) also, I am super anal retentive about my car and after smoking at a bar or something if I got into my car the entire car would smell like cigars for weeks.
So, I switched to pipe smoking because I liked the complexity of tobacco blends, the craftsmanship in pipes, and just the relaxing sophisticated allure of pipes. I've been discouraged on and off though with the issues I've faced whilst smoking.

 

[toddryan84]

@mso489
I also wipe the bowl after each use, I take a paper towel and twist it into the bowl and it does a really nice job of cleaning the inside. I develop a little cake, but not the dime sized thickness others have said you should have.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Where do you live? Humidity- the ambient kind- varies hugely region to region, season to season. Often that can lead to being unable to dry the tobacco sufficiently without artificial means such as oven or microwave.

.

Don't worry about keeping it lit. If it goes out and the bowl is hot, wait till it cools some.
Good luck~

 

[pipesmokingtom]

My stock answer is smoke more and talk about smoking less.
I could probably explain how to be a good second baseman, but until the player spends sufficient time on the field, he'll be rubbish no matter how much he "knows."

 

[toddryan84]

@jpmcwjr
South Florida, I think you posted in my initial post about "smoking in humid states" we have 80-90% humidity almost year round here.

 

[toddryan84]

@pipesmokingtom
I know, I just have been very discouraged lately, but, believe it or not, talking about smoking is what fuels my desire to continue, so it's kind of what helps me learn and overcome these things.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

I understand that, but what it also does is build expectations that are generally impossible to meet due to inexperience.

 

[briarblues]

Todd;
In the humid area you live you will need to find a way to pack which works. When you fill a pipe is the draw similar to a cigar? If so that is far to tight. It should draw similar to drinking water through a straw, not like a milkshake through a straw. It would help if we knew what brands of pipes you have. Some that may be drilled tight will increase the strength you need to draw, which will heat up the bowl. There is no simple cure all. It just takes time to find the best variety of techniques that work for you.
Regards

Michael J. Glukler

 

[jndyer]

toddryan84:
I know it can be frustrating when you first start pipe smoking. Most, if not all, of us have been down the path you are currently on. Every thing you write sounds just like what I experienced when I was first starting out. Try your best to not to get discouraged. Keep at this and try to relax through this learning process. You will get to where you want to be in due time.
One thought I have in regards to your burn issues could be related to tamping your tobacco. Early on in my pipe smoking journey I know I was tamping too often and with too much force when I started out.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Todd-
Yes, if I had a better rememberer, I wouldn't have asked! Keeping moisture out is your problem, at least the major portion thereof. You can't leave it out without it over hydrating.
I've just moved from a RH of 15-50% to one of 60-75%, which is very nice for tobaccos! (average ranges, once the first place got to 5%, and when it fogs or mists here, outside is well up in the 90's. But since it's also in the 60's F, indoors is likely to be heated, with a midrange RH.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

1. I use the traditional style of breaking in pipes, in that, I smoke half bowls until a cake starts to form towards the bottom and then go from there. It can take 30 or 40 bowls (sometimes even more) before the pipe feels broken in to me. A broken in pipe works like shoes for me; they fit my hand and mouth, feel comfortable, and perform as designed. I have found it difficult to get a pipe to feel broken in if it was poorly engineered.
2. I keep 6 pipes in rotation; and dedicate one to McClelland Virginias, one to Vapers, one to Latakia blends, one to lighter more lemony Virginias, and the other two to brown Virginias. There's overlapping, but in general, this is what I do. I do it because it works for me, and like others have already stated, you should do what works for you.
3. Cadence comes over time and even with experience can and most likely will fluctuate. Pipes get hot, it's going to happen. You just want to keep it from getting too hot and most tobacco will tell you when it's too hot by the way it's tasting. Bitter tasting tobacco is an indicator that the pipe is getting too hot. Put it down for a few minutes, relight, and sip. Sip, sip, sip is the key.

 

[saltedplug]

Relights are a way of life with the pipe. Since you are having trouble with keeping the pipe lit, give it a maximal light, enough to see the flaming tobacco ascend from the top of the bowl. Actually once you're better at managing the burn, this isn't necessary, but for now I'd recommend it as you want to know you lit maximally, that you started with plenty of oomph. So for some 45 seconds each pull, even if its small, will get you plenty of smoke and not need a relight. Enter the middle phase, burning but not burning as it did at the start There should be no need for a relight here, either. Enter the end phase, minimal burn, and here your courting a relight. But believe it or not this is actually the sweet spot, as the codgers know how to balance the burn between a simmer and going out. This is the sweet spot as the slower the tobacco is burning, the better the flavor. I've read this many times. Unfortunately it takes years for most to achieve this, and although I have a few years left, I may never do so.

 

[perdurabo]

I'm in the fill it up and smoke to the bottom camp. That other stuff sound like hoodoo Wookie Magick. AKA: Old Codger Tales.