Details - Drying Tobacco?

[bphilli75]

I have searched the forum for threads on drying tobacco and have not quite found what I am looking for. If I have missed it and any outstanding forum navigators care to point me in the right direction, I will be grateful.
Lately I have had a really bad run of requiring far too many relights. I see folks post that they are smoking to the bottom with only one or two relights, and I just have to shake my head in wonder. I think I have about read it all regarding packing a pipe, appropriate draw resistance, false-light/tamp/true-light, sipping cadence, etc, etc. Something I want to start to work with more is drying tobacco. I see varying opinions on this, but I think this is the next variable I need to play with.
My question is how you all tend to dry your tobacco? Sure, I have seen posts on blow dryers, heat lamps, ovens, etc. I don't think those methods are for me. If you smoke a few different blends throughout the day, do you set them out on several drying plates? I heard Brian L. say on the radio show that he will false-light/tamp his pipes the night before to prep for the next day. Drying for specific times for different blends seems a little labor intensive for folks who take in several bowls a day, so I am curious.
Yesterday, I swear I had to relight a bowl of Lane 1Q so many times, I thought I was going to drain my lighter. I know, at least half of you will see this and think, "I never dry lane 1Q. I stuff and go and smoke to the bottom with only one relight." :worship: Tonight, I have set some up in the bottom of an open jar to dry all night. We shall see how it goes in the morning.
Thanks for the help,

Bill

 

[fnord]

Bill:
I take out the tobacco I plan to smoke in an evening and put it on a small salad plate in the kitchen. It will sit there for several hours before I fire up and will usually burn with a couple of relights. (If I'm not sure what particular blend I'll be smoking I'll set out several plates. What I don't smoke goes back into the mason jar.) Also, if I'm in a hurry to get the tobacco dried out, I've placed the plate underneath a reading lamp to speed up the process. Hell, I've even used the microwave for short five and ten second blasts.
Fnord

 

[bobby46]

The pinch test linked above is good advice. However, I prefer to dry until the strands do not stick together at all. The strands should still be flexible; not krinkly. Pipe makers have for decades attempted designs to handle excess condensation. Filters, shank air traps, etc; all to compensate for damp tobacco. I believe that many complaints of "gurgling" and "tongue bite" would be remedied by careful pre-smoke air drying.

 

[roadqueen]

I set out a bowl's worth of 1Q a couple of days ago. I've been waiting for it to dry. It's now WETTER than when I took it out. *sigh*
I may have to try the microwave method tonight if I ever want to smoke it.

 

[thesmokindragon]

Area you are drying bacci in ; temp & humidity will cause perhaps more or less issues ::
In the Summer w/our A/C running and a temp of 68F my bacci dries...FAST, a few hours and it will be almost crispy

 

[roadqueen]

It has been fairly humid lately, but for the life of me I didn't expect the tobacco to become wetter! Dry slowly, maybe. I don't have a desk lamp or toaster oven, but I may try the microwave in 5 sec increments until it reaches the desired dryness.
Thanks gents!

 

[erichbaumer]

The desk lamp technique has worked very well for me, dries out a fairly soggy tobacco in something less than an hour, and I like my tobacco pretty dry. And it's right there while I'm on the computer, so no problem keeping an eye on it.

 

[rayje589]

I set out a bowl's worth of 1Q a couple of days ago. I've been waiting for it to dry. It's now WETTER than when I took it out. *sigh*

Thank god it's not just me. I had that happen to some Louisiana Red I forgot to put back in the tin.
This is my first summer smoking and during the winer the air is nice and dry so leaving it out was never a problem. I'm like ericbaumer above and like it dry. I suggest the small investment in a desk lamp, I know I will be.

 

[andrew]

If it's an aro there's a good chance it has PG ( propylene glycol) in it, which is a chemical they add to keep it from drying out. I find you have to dry it for like a week and then it's still not dry, it basically never dries out because of it. I've had a pouch of an aro I bought and it's probably 6 months old and it's still not crispy dry. So you'll probably have to dry it for more than overnight, even blends that don't have it I have to dry for up to a week easily after popping a tin to get it to the right smoking moisture level.

 

[bphilli75]

Thank you all for the help and conversation on this topic. Drying FMC and MM965 overnight were both very helpful. I left some 1Q out for about 18 hours and could tell no difference from the tobacco in the jar. I notice that if I pack the 1Q a bit looser, it will tend to sort of dry itself a bit in the initial part of the smoke. Escudo doesn't seem to need more than a couple hours to dry. ...so many variables. I'm having fun learning to work with them, thanks to your kind help.
Now I just have to remember to plan ahead.
Bill

 

[bigvan]

I've never needed to dry tobacco. The drier it is, the easier it burns but the less flavor it has. So you should ask yourself, what's the purpose of smoking a pipe? To keep it lit or to experience the flavor?

 

[judcole]

The only blends I ever dry are SG flakes - BBF and Balkan Flake - and I don't get 'em that dry.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I've been known to nuke it in the microwave for 10 seconds, take it out, let it sit for another 5 minutes or so and it's good to go. That's just when I'm in a hurry. Normally just letting it sit for 15 minutes or so does the trick I think.

 

[soggycitybob]

Thanks, BillP, for asking the question. I've been having the same problem with my current batch of 1Q. I was hesitant to post on the boards, and was just thinking it was a damp batch or something. I've been trying to dry it a little, but will try some of these new tricks.

 

[padank]

The whole drying thing was new to me until today. Thanks for this thread!

JS

 

[nzpiper]

I'll have my beloved 1Q any which way, as long as I can have it. Sometimes I think: "what if it was taken off the market?" - I shudder! :D

 

[wilson]

Humid weather, such as we have had in the northeast for the past month or so (though not quite so bad the past few days), will affect the moisture content of your tobacco. In my experience it will also affect how wet the tobacco "smokes" even if the moisture content of the tobacco has not changed. Tobacco, if left out will generally dry out, but what it really wants to do is to come to equilibrium with the moisture content of the atmosphere. In the winter, with the heat on, the air is dry and your tobacco will become crunchy in very short order. In humid weather it will take longer and, if the relative humidity is really high, the tobacco can actually take on some moisture.
This is exacerbated if your tobacco contains a humectant, such as proplyene glycol. Propylene glycol attracts water and "holds" water. Thus, it prevents your tobacco from drying out and extends the shelf life. It is also added to other things, besides pipe tobacco, to maintain moistness and texture. Regular table sugar is also hygroscopic (as are most sugars) and this is the reason why your sugar bowl becomes crusty and lumpy in humid weather.
I'm not an expert on what tobaccos have, and don't have, humectants (propoylene glycol, or honey, or sugars of some sort) added to them, but if your tobacco does, then it will not dry if you leave it out in humid weather and it very likely will become even wetter.
Your tobacco moisture problems are, likely, a result of the weather. Simply leaving it out is not a guarantee that it will dry and it might even become wetter, as a few have noted in other posts. If you want to dry it, I think that you will need to take the advice of those who like to dry their tobacco and use a desk lamp or some other (gentle) heating method to drive off some of the moisture. I don't dry tobacco (other than sometimes leaving the top off of a new tin, which won't work well in humid weather), so have no experience but expect that the key thing here is gentle heat.

 

[cortezattic]

Ditto Wilson, who ends by saying, "the key thing here is gentle heat".

I've been proselytizing for the Heat-It!™ craft tool for a long time. I swear by it for drying tobacco.

It heats up extremely quickly, and has a very gentle air stream that won't blow tobacco out of a small dish.



Even so, I can only smoke a bowl on one or two relights if I'm outdoors, or sitting in front of a fan (the electric type)! :lol:

There are a lot of variables to control: moisture in the tobacco and atmosphere; packing, and packing with respect to

the tobacco cut; puffing cadence; attentive tamping; and pipe selection -- some pipes are just real stinkers about staying lit.
BTW, I place a bowlful of tobacco in a small aluminum foil baking pan when I use the blow dryer.

 

[allan]

Cortez
Just asked my wife if she had an old hair dryer laying around. I'm always in a hurry, and this idea strikes me like a good one. I figure on low speed, from a good distance away, its worth a try.
Thanks

 

[allan]

Roth
Excellent suggestion.
I just won't comment on the more interesting part of your post.