Didn't Worry About Packing and Guess What?

[mikethompson]

I had a nice cool smoke.

I've heard lots of different advice on packing your bowl - probably the same advice we have all heard - pack loose, tamp down, pack again, the Three Handshake style, all of that.

Well today I threw all of that out the window, and just scooped up some Half and Half with my cob, patted it down, and lit. I had a nice cool smoke with a few delights. Still working on the breathing and getting flavors, but at least I didn't burn my tongue this time.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I had a nice cool smoke.

I've heard lots of different advice on packing your bowl - probably the same advice we have all heard - pack loose, tamp down, pack again, the Three Handshake style, all of that.

Well today I threw all of that out the window, and just scooped up some Half and Half with my cob, patted it down, and lit. I had a nice cool smoke with a few delights. Still working on the breathing and getting flavors, but at least I didn't burn my tongue this time.

It's as if all of the shit pipe smokers tell newbies is just bullshit.

 

[FLDRD]

Yeah, but in all fairness, those codger blends lend themselves to mindless scooping and lighting.
My Carter Hall is that way for me, it's my lowest level leaf...

 

[didimauw]

My best smokes happen when I don't pay close attention. Thinking about it just adds to the stress.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

If you over complicate anything you might ruin it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Wait until you finish a pipe without remembering packing it or lightning it.

 

[Bassman65]

Yeah that’s where I’m at too. Sometimes it takes two pinches to fill. Sometimes three or four. As long as I don’t tamp it down too hard, seems ok.

Then again, I’m not too concerned about the number of relights I have to do. Gives the ADHD something to do .

 

[AroEnglish]

Just wanted to say that I appreciate you saying that you've still got things to learn even after being here (and presumably smoking a pipe) for 8 years.

 

[kcghost]

If I didn't pay attention to how I pack the tobacco, it would be an all-out burning of my mouth. I took me quite a while before I could do it reliably. Now, no problem.

 

[mikethompson]

Just wanted to say that I appreciate you saying that you've still got things to learn even after being here (and presumably smoking a pipe) for 8 years.

You always have something to learn, especially with pipe smoking.

 

[Choatecav]

Actually, when I look back on my career... most of my greatest accomplishments came about after I threw out the rule book and just used common horse sense. Of course, I often had to go to the horses to get some......

 

[Sig]

That's been my advice for years when new smokers get stressed about packing.
For many years I have shoved crammed, poured, smashed.....tobacco in my pipes.
I rarely need more than one relight.
99% of the time my pipe burns down to the bottom, then I give one relight try.
The same goes for many of the "rules". Proper puffing technique can hide many sins.

 

[sablebrush52]

Big surprise! The trick is to make that repeatable.

Methods are wonderful things that I have never used and never will. Don't need them. Never have.

Amazing how generations of pipe smokers were able to enjoy their pipes and tobaccos without methods or videos.

I've enjoyed tens of thousands of bowls. I know what my pack should feel like. I know what the optimal moisture is for the blends I like to smoke.

At its center, smoking a pipe is very simple. All you gotta do is know how.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Yeah, but in all fairness, those codger blends lend themselves to mindless scooping and lighting.
My Carter Hall is that way for me, it's my lowest level leaf...

I believe the pouch in itself lends to the process, especially while loading pipe mindlessly while doing other things.

 

[Choatecav]

That's been my advice for years when new smokers get stressed about packing.
For many years I have shoved crammed, poured, smashed.....tobacco in my pipes.
I rarely need more than one relight.
99% of the time my pipe burns down to the bottom, then I give one relight try.
The same goes for many of the "rules". Proper puffing technique can hide many sins.

I think one thing that has helped me over the years has been the hundreds of campfires I have built over the decades in all conditions from wet to dry. You gotta start from the bottom and work up. You need a tinder for quick lighting, kindling, slightly moderate sticks and you get them burning. Then, and only then do you load on the bigger stuff to take a hold. The biggest key in all of this is plenty of air (oxygen). Never stack or pack it seamlessly.

Let air get in there.

This is where Sig's last sentence above comes into play..... "Proper puffing technique can hide many sins."

 

[FLDRD]

I believe the pouch in itself lends to the process, especially while loading pipe mindlessly while doing other things.

Yeah, but I was picturing my tub...
Same deal

 

[FLDRD]

I think one thing that has helped me over the years has been the hundreds of campfires I have built over the decades in all conditions from wet to dry. You gotta start from the bottom and work up. You need a tinder for quick lighting, kindling, slightly moderate sticks and you get them burning. Then, and only then do you load on the bigger stuff to take a hold. The biggest key in all of this is plenty of air (oxygen). Never stack or pack it seamlessly.

Let air get in there.

This is where Sig's last sentence above comes into play..... "Proper puffing technique can hide many sins."

I've often pictured making a wood fire, indoors or inside in a fireplace, and wondered that perhaps there are some who've never done so...

 

[mikethompson]

Lighting a pipe is like building a fire, lighting a cigar is like lighting a firelog.

 

[BayouGhost]

I got to where I don't think about it. Mostly gravity drop or scoop it out of the pouch using the bowl, tamp a bit and then once lit tamp as I go keeping it a bit springy. Its wild that there are videos on Youtube in excess of 15 minutes with various drawings and schematics as if we are putting a rocket into orbit instead of just loading a pipe.

 

[Zeno Marx]

One of the modern trends in tobacco...and really, every hobby now...is the overthinking and "please hold my hand" trepidation. There's no figuring out anything on your own. From how do you hold it to how do you look at it to how do you buy it to how do you x, y, and z it. For a hobby that is so very personal, so patient and contemplative, new smokers seem to want to plug into a communal databank and instantly have everything ever experienced at their whim, to instantly have a tobacco cellar, to immediately have a pipe collection, etc. No problem solving. No slow gathering of knowledge and experience. It's both a harsh thing to say and a harsh reality. The devaluing of personal exploration, the fruits of trial and error, and the development of ethos is an unfortunate consequence of the post-internet world. Worst of all, the result of all that doesn't sound like much fun to me, and maybe I'm wrong in thinking that the connexion to the hobby is lesser. I know I feel most connected to something when I'm left to my own devices.