Constant relights, gurgle and heat

[w2irt]

Hello all,

I'm coming into pipes from cigars and I'm having many of the typical newbie problems. I'm trying to follow experts' advice but not having a great deal of success. Let me indulge here briefly.
The wife won't allow cigars in the house but tolerates aromatics. I've also tried a couple of latakia-blends but (a) I didn't like the overpowering taste and (b) the wife didn't like the room note. I do have one store-brand with a touch of latakia that's quite pleasant. Frog Morton, on the other hand, was far too strong.
The issue for me is technique, or probably in my case, the lack thereof. I've tried the Frank method of packing as well as 1-2-3 and the "stuff it in lightly with you finger but not too tight" method. I've used soft-flame pipe lighters and matches and prefer the lighter. I don't tamp too often and very lightly at that. I sip lightly, not draw as I would on a cigar.
But with all that advice followed, I'm still having problems keeping a bowl lit. At least 10 relights are necessary, at the very least. My pipe will go from smoking nicely to "out" with no warning whatsoever and I always get gurgle. I can also never, ever smoke everything down to the end; there's always about 2 or 3 mm worth of unburnt t'baccy in the bottom of the bowl. If I pack loosely I get no smoke. Too tight, it goes out. Relight, relight, relight, relight. If I leave it alone for more than 20-30 seconds it's out or only yields a wisp or two of smoke when I draw on it again. If I sip lightly I get very little smoke. Too much, I get tongue burn.
As for the tobacco, how best should I be storing it? I keep it in the ziplock baggie it comes in from the shop. When I squeeze it together it invariably feels clumpy and I get an oily residue on my hands, yet that's how it comes from the tobbaconists (De La Concha and Nat Sherman in Manhattan), so I assume they're storing it correctly. My "gut" is telling me it's too wet. What should I do to dry it out? Or if it's not too wet, what am I doing incorrectly?
I ask you, fellow Brothers Of The Briar, what corrective measures should this pipe newbie undertake to get that elusive cool, great tasting smoke?
My thanks in advance.

 

[cortezattic]

Welcome to the forums w2irt! :clap:
I almost always dry out my tobacco just before smoking it. Since I can never plan far enough ahead to air dry it,

I use a gentle hot air blower. The gurgle is condensate from smoking a wet tobacco, or smoking anything too furiously.
I would ask the tobacconist for their house version of a tobacco called 1-Q. Good room note, yet enough tobacco flavor for you.
Don't worry about the re-lights or the dottle in the bottom of the bowl. With time things will improve.
Cobs tend to smoke "wetter" for me. Are you smoking a cob?

 

[gnatjulio]

I hear some people nuke it in the microwave for a few seconds with a piece of paper towel on it.

 

[w2irt]

I smoke briars. One nice Peterson, and two el-cheapos (

 

[gmwolford]

I lay my tobacco out on a coffee filter or paper towel for 15 minutes or longer, depending on how wet it is. The stickiness is probably from the casing on the tobacco that gives it the flavor and smell. There is one I get from time to time that I put in between sheets of paper towel and leave for 30-60 minutes; when I'm down there's a lot of yellowish "grease" spots from the wicked away extra casing. That may be something you need to try.
I may be wrong but I think all tobacconists keep the tobacco as moist as they get it, not knowing how long they'll have it before it sells. So while they are storing it "right" it's still probably too wet. Of you have more than you'll smoke in a few weeks you might want to look into putting it in air tight jars rather than zip bags.

 

[captainsousie]

Sounds like your tobacco is a bit too wet. I dry until it just starts feeling dry. Not until it crumbles but when it doesn't feel wet to the touch. EDIT: Sometimes this takes a couple hours.
Don't worry about relighting. When you worry about it you tend to keep puffing to keep it lit and that leads to heat and gurgle.
Last thing, some pipes smoke wet until they are broken in and that can take a few smokes. Some pipes, usually briars that are poorly made in my experience (some have this problem with cobs), will always smoke with a gurgle.

 

[taerin]

Briar pipes (cheap ones, mostly) for me have been a source of wet smoking and constant gurgling, try a corn cob (only a few bucks) and see if that doesn't improve the quality of the smoke. They are extremely open, which makes it pretty impossible to gurgle or smoke wet. I do like a good briar better, but they have to be well made and open enough to not gurgle.

 

[captainsousie]

A couple more things.
1. Welcome, good to have you around.
2. Pipes give very little smoke compared to cigars. If you go for big, billowing clouds you will get some serious burn. Again, just my experience.

 

[fireman03]

Microwave works for me. 5-10 secs on a paper towel. Then fold the towel over and press down on the baccy.

 

[juvat270]

Forget the frank method and the 3 step method. The easiest and imho the best way is to gravity fill your pipe to the top. Then take your finger or tamper and pack the tobacco down until its about halfway in the bowl. Gravity fill again to the top. Pack it down a little more, only this time draw on the pipe while doing so. It should feel like your sucking liquid through a straw. Now top off the bowl with some loose tobacco for kindling. Light the bowl while puffing. Once the entire top is lit, it will most likely go out. This is good. Repeat the entire process again, only this time it should stay lit. Lightly tamp down the "bloom" that occurred while lighting. Enjoy!
As for relights, again I'm probably gonna get flamed for saying this, but here it goes...stop sipping. Draw on it like you would a cigarette or a cigar. The reason I say this, sipping can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I've seen people who "sip" and just the faintest wisp of smoke comes out of their mouth. And then they complain about the pipe constantly going out. Well, no wonder!
As time goes on you'll eventually tweak your technique for what works best for you.
I should clarify, the reason I said to not use those methods for packing is pretty much the same reason I gave for not sipping. I often hear, in reference to the "3-step" method. Pack the first pinch like a baby. Pack the second like a woman. And then pack the third like a man. What the hell does that even mean? I mean, I get the analogy their trying to make. But how I think a baby might pack a wad of tobacco is probably different then what others think. And mostly, I just don't think its a very good way to pack a bowl. The same goes for the "Frank Method".

 

[lasttango]

I'm new too and figuring it out as I go... I have received a lot of help on these forums... great folks...
I have 6 pipes now and some pipes and some tobaccos work better for me... I too use the 1-2-3 packing method... I use pipe cleaners between smokes...
drier tobaccos... and my stanwell and meerschaum rarely give me problems... they are considerably nice pipes.
so far, either of these pipes packed with my fairly dry 1Q or Rattray's Red... give me little if no problems... few relights... no gurgle...

 

[briarfriar]

There is little I can add to these useful replies except as regards the purchase of loose tobacco from the tobacconist. Yes, it's very moist. When you ask for two ounces or a pound or whatever, you're buying needlessly moist and heavy tobacco. Not everywhere every time of course, but it's something to keep in mind when you go to smoke it.

 

[pitchfork]

If you're truly packing light, my suspicion is you're trying to get too much smoke per draw. Also having smoked cigars before the pipe, I had similar problems early on. Your palate will become more sensitive as you smoke more and you won't need the giant billows of smoke to get flavor. One of the joys of cigars is the ease with which they can be smoked -- what they lack are the nuanced flavors of pipe tobacco. Keep at it and good luck!

 

[nsfisher]

I like my baccy on the verge of crispy, but not quite. A couple of times during your smoke, run a pipe cleaner tru it. Don't sweat the packing, it will come in time. Keep on trying mate, you'll get er

 

[baronsamedi]

When you sip the tobacco, the pressure should be like sipping soda through a straw, not like a milkshake. It's easy to over-pack when doing the 3-step. Better to go a little too light than too hard. You can always tamp it more after it heats up and the tobacco expands. It's harder to un-tamp once it's packed.

 

[philip]

Are your pipes new? If so, that might account for a bit of the gurgle. New pipes need to be smoked a few times before they start smoking well.
The pipes and your technique will both improve slowly and it may be difficult to even tell how or why things are improving.

 

[gwtwdbss]

Stray away from aro's if you are a cigar smoker. They will not satisfy at all and you will soon quit the pipe.
Try this:
Old Dark Fired
Same as above suggestions, sip slowly and you will be amazed!

 

[cortezattic]

w2irt says

I smoke briars. One nice Peterson and two el-cheapos

The pipe may be the problem. Peterson has a great reputation, but lately I hear more and more complaints about them.

I have a Pete' and it is finicky, but I've learned to accommodate it with tobacco cuts and packing that work better.
Maybe you should consider another brand. I have a couple of Savinellis that always deliver a perfect smoke, and I

can confidently recommend them above many higher grades I own. You should probably have more than 3 or 4 pipes anyway.

The reason I recommend Savinelli specifically is that most of them can be used with an optional balsa wood insert,

to which you can resort if even that brand gurgles for you. Their line has a lot of variety and a broad price range.

 

[w2irt]

I took a closer look at the el-cheapos. One is a Molina R104, which is somewhat similar to my Peterson in aesthetic design; the other is a little bulldog from Lane pipe, who's bowl appears to be tapered at the bottom.
These two are quite new--both under one month. I bought the Peterson in winter 2010/2011 but had only smoked about 10 times before I became more interested in pipes this year. I plan to buy a couple more for the sake of rotation; one more for English blends and one more for Aros. In reply to gwtwdbss, the aros are the ones who's aroma my wife enjoys more, so I tend to go more that way.
I'll take the advice from those above and see how using drier tobacco will change things. I still notice a lot of unburnt tobacco at the bottom of the bowl and when I clean the pipe the next day I often notice a thickish tarry paste almost at the bottom.

 

[gray4lines]

I had the exact same problems as you (and still do sometimes!) and I've come to believe 90% of the problem was tobacco that was too moist. I've had much much better experiences since setting it out a while before I smoke, if possible. The Frog Morton especially... It smoked like a swamp right out of the tin.