Details- Critical or Not?

[sugardaddy]

Just don't watch youtube tutorials on smoking, and then whatever you are doing will probably be fine.

Really? Is that the opinion of most serious smokers around here?

 

[kcghost]

I generally try to get the pipe going by giving it a first lighting of the flame. I try to draw the flame to the tobacco. Not terribly successful with those. Then, I try a second light, and this is more successful. This actually gets the tobacco evened in the bowl even maybe even a flicker of smoke will arise. Then I light it a third time and Voila we have first true puffs in the pipe.

 

[mortonbriar]

Really? Is that the opinion of most serious smokers around here?

I can only give my own opinion, and I am not sure if I am a 'serious smoker' but I have found trial and error to be the best way for me to figure out some of those finer details in the past...Also I imagine those youtube videos are editing out all the times the lighter is out of gas, or the moustache gets burned, the relight takes 5 attempts in the wind etc etc.

Pipe smoking to me is a fairly slow paced thing, a bowl could smoulder for a couple of hours before being finished, a tin could sit and age for a decade before I pop it and in the same vein, there are techniques I have picked up along the way which are purely muscle memory now but were learned through experience in my first year or two of smoking a pipe, some even later than that.

 

[bullet08]

I wonder what was his secret method, the guy who smoked dung. How he find the right dryness of the dung. How he pack it into his pipe. How he would light it. If he used charring light or not. What kinda cadence he used. It's sad to think that one harmless bath did him in.

 

[Pipeoff]

I over fill in a cone shape above the bowl to get a nice even burn, tamp lightly with few relights. The only draw back is that you don’t wear your favorite pants. But what ever method , you can always tell a pipe smoker by the burn holes in his lap.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Minor point: If you smoke standing up, trouser burns are mostly eliminated...Overall, burn holes are a nuisance and my synthetic garments seem to attract one tiny hole apiece!

 

[mso489]

I think the charring light concept began with the advice not to expect a pipe to stay lit on the first light, although as we all know, sometimes it does. When it's needed, the charring light allows the tobacco to rise up a little in flame and then go out, to be tamped back in place and re-lit for a pleasing smoke, with one or two additional lights along the way.

I always hope the pipe will stay lit with the first light, but then chalk it up to a charring light if it doesn't. It's never been worth a whole deal of thought to me. I try to pack artfully, leaving some room for air to make the ember happen, and leave it at that.

Although I do love various premium blends, I admit that the champs for staying lit are the loose ribbon tobacco of so-called codger or over-the-counter blends with brands about a century old, back when pipe smokers expected leaf to stay lit without any trouble.

 

[aspiring_sage]

Really? Is that the opinion of most serious smokers around here?

I learned the rules from YouTube. Then I came to this forum and learned there are no rules.

YouTube is my go to resource for EVERYTHING, but for pipes it has been useless for me.
There are some interesting guys that smoke pipes, very little good information for smoking pipes.

What a beginner really needs is the confidence to continue. If YouTube get you through, enjoy.

I over thought and studied everything! In the end: put tobacco and fire in one end and suck on the other. If something hurts, adjust something. You’ll figure it out right quick.

 

[sugardaddy]

I think the charring light concept began with the advice not to expect a pipe to stay lit on the first light, although as we all know, sometimes it does.

That makes good sense. And I think it's good to have a term for those early lights, where you just have to be flexible, because they may or may not take.

 

[sugardaddy]

I learned the rules from YouTube. Then I came to this forum and learned there are no rules.

That seems to be my experience now, too. Well said.

YouTube is my go to resource for EVERYTHING, but for pipes it has been useless for me.

I also turn to YT quickly for a lot of info, and most of the time, it's been great.

While I wouldnt say that it has been useless for pipe smoking, I would agree that you could really congeal all the pipe smoking technique vids into a dozen or so... and once those are watched, it's best to then learn the rest on the job.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Yes! And some basic guidance and techniques are helpful and often sought by new hobbyists who post their questions here.

The "do whatever works for you" and YMMV comments may prove to be true in the long run, but aren't super helpful when a beginner doesn't have a ton of trial-and-error to fall back on.

What?

Experiment!

You holding a flashlight on “The Joy Of Sex” trying to get everything just right when you are sharing special moments?

 

[yanoJL]

...

You holding a flashlight on “The Joy Of Sex” trying to get everything just right when you are sharing special moments?

No.
But I did get " the talk" from dad that started out with....
"When two people love each other very much... "