Cure Your Wet Smoking Pipe

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think better to work on technique as opposed to trying to fix a problem that is not the pipes.
How much moisture can reside in a piece of Briar? Very little I think and certainly not enough to make it smoke wet. The cause had to be Wilshire.
I prefer cigars that are stored around 62%, keeping them at 70% is a good way to get a tight draw and bitter smoke. I dry my tobacco out prior to smoking a pipe. Seattle Pipe Club tobaccos tend to be a bit cut out of the tin in my experience. Last night, I let a bowl of Potlatch dry longer than normal with excellent results. The flavors were much sharper and enjoyable.
I also have no problem running a pipe cleaner while I'm smoking to keep everything nice and dry. I routinely smoke 8 or 9 bowls out of 10 to the bottom of the bowl with no additional effort or unpleasant taste. Just finished an extremely satisfying bowl of McCranies Red Ribbon with no pipe cleaner used during smoking and to the bottom of the bowl. Was the last bowl of that tin, sad to see that product going away.

 

[jpmcwjr]

My title is misleading, so I apologize for that. I was trying to hone in on those pipes some have that have never smoked quite right, the theory being that the briar was never cured/dried enough in the first place, and by repeated smokes to the bottom, that alone might help cure the thing and produce sweeter smokes.
Briar absorbs very little moisture when smoking or cleaning with water, but the wood can be quite moist on harvest. After harvest it is usually boiled in water, sometimes oil. Then comes the drying period, sometimes in kilns, sometimes in plain dry air. For some pipes somewhere along the line, they didn't get fully dried or cured. Guys who typically smoke 2/3 down, esp. with moist tobacco, never get the drying effect I was hoping some might achieve.
If you smoke most of your bowls to the end, and more importantly, don't have a pipe or two that aren't up to snuff, then this suggestion is one you can readily pass by!

 

[warren]

I can consistently get a nice smoking experience with any pipe I own. Perhaps my standards are too low. Obviously I'm missing something, not sure what though. I put the pipe in the pouch, shovel in some blend, staying aware of the pack as I load, light up and enjoy. What am I doing wrong? Rhetorical question.

 

[sablebrush52]

This is a pretty interesting thread. The vast majority of my pipes are ancient Britood. None of them smoke wet. Granted, when you're smoking Barlings, Sasienis, Comoy, Charatans and the like, you're smoking some of the best crafted pipes ever made. None of them have wide open airways, and none of them feel the least bit constricted. I have nothing against wider airways, my new artisan made pipes are open and I enjoy the way they smoke as well.
But, I don't smoke wet tobacco. For one thing, too much moisture damps the flavor, and what is the point of smoking a fine blend when you can't taste what it has to offer? When you let your tobacco dry to almost bone dry, the flavors of the various tobaccos are revealed. The tobacco needs less tending, and once you have developed your packing and cadence, enjoying a bowl is close to effortless. 25% equipment and 75% technique.
Aros might be better enjoyed a bit more moist as it's more about the toppings, which can diminish a bit with too much drying. Whatever you smoke, your prep, packing, and cadence are critical.

 

[luigi]

I (unintentially) tried jpm's method to cure my (often) wet smoking. I dried a pouch of tobacco completely, if I pinch it really hard it crumbles in dust. It's a part of my drying experiment and my smokes are a lot more enjoyable now (latakia blends excluded). The bowl is dry at the end, tonguebite is gone, flavours are enhanced. I will probably dry it a little less next time just to load it easier and not to get that "powder" in mouth. There are still too many factors included so I could say it will affect pipes in a good way or even cure some "bad smokers". A time will probably know and tell best, as always.

 

[jpmcwjr]

What you are missing, warren, is that this thread doesn't apply to you. If all your pipes are great smokers, good on ya!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Thanks, gents. It was meant to be less about smoking wet per bowl than over time heat curing a stummel that wasn't a great smoker. Again, sorry my title is misleading.

 

[warren]

I missed my point by a wide margin I understand that some like to fiddle and toy with less than stellar smoking implements. Some are too expensive or have a certain something about them to simply discard. I get that! I just can't relate to it.
What I should have done on reading this thread ... was to simply push the keyboard away but, I didn't. So, I added absolutely nothing positive to the discussion. Mea culpa! I deserved the gentle admonishing.
jpmcwjr: You bring an interesting perspective to pipe maintenance. I read, enjoy, sometimes scratch my head, and have even tried the "water rinse." So, keep exploring as the posts are always interesting.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Thanks, Warren—my next foray might be in the direction of getting folks to quantify moisture. Probably tilting at windmills, whaddya think?

 

[aldecaker]

I generally only get about 2.5 jpm of moisture from a good-smoking pipe, myself.

 

[halfy]

The dill size has very little to do with a pipe smokes wet or not...
It is the bowl shape and where the air hole enters that determine the qualities of smoke, among which the most important thing is the temperature. For every 20C higher the moisture in air would at least double... and if a chamber exist in the airway (a large room in the mortise tenon place) the condensation would probably take place and the water drops would accumulate in stem...
If moisture is found in the bottom of the bowl...either that pipe or your smoking habit is not qualifying a normal smoker...

 

[jpmcwjr]

Thank you. I was trying to focus on the briar itself, noting that some stummels haven't been cured/dried fully.
If there's visible moisture in the heel, the tobacco was too moist going in, and/or the bowl was smoked too fast/hot.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have no idea what a wet smoking pipe is. Either I am very lucky with all of my pipes, in which I firmly believe have a way in which each wants to be smoked for best perfomance. Or, I am not understanding the terminology. I totally “get” the idea behind briar giving a horrid taste, which I have since traded my one pipe that did this. And, I did have a few bents that gurgled when a droplet of natural condensation from combustion would set at the entrance to the draft from the chamber with no where to go, but carving the chamber just a “smidge” deeper below the draft, giving the droplet a place to go solved my problem. I learned this from looking closely at how some pipes were designed at The Briary. But, I didn’t think of my gurgler as a “wet smoker” because all pipes from the very nature of combustion creates a little moisture. But, like I’ve said, maybe out of over 100 pipes I have just been very lucky.
But hey, I’m all for smoking 20-30 bowls of bone dry tobacco. I do this anyways, ha ha. Do I have to stop at 30?

 

[jpmcwjr]

But, I didn’t think of my gurgler as a “wet smoker” because all pipes from the very nature of combustion creates a little moisture. But, like I’ve said, maybe out of over 100 pipes I have just been very lucky.

It's not necessarily about gurgling. It's not about a bowl or two of overly moist tobacco. It's about heat driving out moisture from the briar- moisture that's been there all along in some pipes. If you've never experienced a pipe that wasn't properly cured, terrific. At the same time, if you smoke on the dry side, you've been doing the right things to overcome those pipes which may have had a deficiency.

But hey, I’m all for smoking 20-30 bowls of bone dry tobacco. I do this anyways, ha ha. Do I have to stop at 30?

Hell no!