Do I dislike smoking or my tobacco?
- Thread starter iaindescribable
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It depends a lot on your body type.
My brother has trouble making it through a single bowl of a light Aromatic blend, whereas a full bowl of Dark Fired Kentucky does next to nothing for me, but I also weigh almost twice as much as him (which would have been an exaggeration if I hadn't found out that I was actually 280lbs back in January, sheesh, that gave me a scare, I'm on an extremely strict diet now).
2 bowls of Kentucky will put me down, but I can't feel anything until I start to lose my balance, which is the first indication that I'm about to get sick from having too much. It's actually kind of disappointing.
It has been a long time since I've thought of Bone - nice avatar.
Go to the tobacco shop and check stuff out. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't. Seems like you're interested, so, worth a shot, yeah?
Go to the tobacco shop and check stuff out. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't. Seems like you're interested, so, worth a shot, yeah?
+1 peteguy
You'll have a period of both learning to smoke a pipe and discovering what you like. Opinions, like navels, everybody has one. I find Prince Albert and Carter Hall to be the easiest tobaccos to start with (won't bite, different enough from each other to help you distinguish flavor, easy to pack, cheap, ...)
Visiting a tobacconist (as suggested) and spending time talking to them (and attending a local pipe club) will also help a lot.
Whatever you end up liking, whatever pipe you end up preferring, however you end up packing it,... It'll all be the right thing to do for you.
You'll have a period of both learning to smoke a pipe and discovering what you like. Opinions, like navels, everybody has one. I find Prince Albert and Carter Hall to be the easiest tobaccos to start with (won't bite, different enough from each other to help you distinguish flavor, easy to pack, cheap, ...)
Visiting a tobacconist (as suggested) and spending time talking to them (and attending a local pipe club) will also help a lot.
Whatever you end up liking, whatever pipe you end up preferring, however you end up packing it,... It'll all be the right thing to do for you.
+1 on finding a good tobacconist. I learned more about pipes and tobacco in an hour at my local B&M then I did researching for hours on the internet.
Also if it's your first time smoking a pipe, chances are you're going to be getting tongue bite for the first days to a week while you learn to keep the tobacco in the sweet spot, where it's not burning too hot, and you're not having to relight every few minutes.
If you're willing to keep trying you might check out Trout Stream from P&C. It's a great aromatic. :puffpipe: :puffpipe:
If you're willing to keep trying you might check out Trout Stream from P&C. It's a great aromatic. :puffpipe: :puffpipe:
Birmingham, AL is a true to life literal cesspool. It's a toilet with King Cosmic sitting on a turd in the bowls' middle, claiming power & ownership of all he surveys, King Cosmic of Turd Land! All Hail!
Despite this, I hope you enjoy the trip to The Briary! It's such a wonderful lil place! I'm proud it's here in our tiny town!! I walked into The Briary for the first time back in.... Ummm.... around 1985'ish. I was around 15-16 and I remember thinking it was the best smelling store ever.
Despite this, I hope you enjoy the trip to The Briary! It's such a wonderful lil place! I'm proud it's here in our tiny town!! I walked into The Briary for the first time back in.... Ummm.... around 1985'ish. I was around 15-16 and I remember thinking it was the best smelling store ever.
iaindescribable, as a fellow pipe newbie I will just tell you that I've found a loosely packed bowl to be the easiest to maintain so you can put most of your attention concentrating on contemplating the tobacco.
Also, read (in here and in the web) about breath-smoking and retrohaling both of which help in the satisfaction of this noble hobby.
Also, read (in here and in the web) about breath-smoking and retrohaling both of which help in the satisfaction of this noble hobby.
Hey Nate, get back out in that bowl and harvest me some more poop, like a good little poop peasant.
Does that sweet spot have anything to do with smoke color? I've barbecued a few times and I know that blue smoke = smoldering, white smoke = burning. If you get white smoke, you tone it down. Can I apply that here to gauge where I'm at, or does tobacco behave differently than, say, mesquite?
Hi iaindescribable
Patience is key. Smoking a pipe isn't exactly rocket science, but it gets better with practice. You get the most flavor when the tobacco is just simmering in the bowl around that red cherry coal. Tongue bite generally results from too damp tobacco smoked at too rapid a pace.
Finding the best level of moisture for a blend that you like, the best density of packing for that blend, and the best cadence for sipping the tobacco into your mouth and easing out through your nose, take patience, and practice.
That patience will be rewarded. One of the neat things about pipes and tobaccos is that there is an amazing variety of flavors to be discovered. Much more than any other form of smoking.
Patience is key. Smoking a pipe isn't exactly rocket science, but it gets better with practice. You get the most flavor when the tobacco is just simmering in the bowl around that red cherry coal. Tongue bite generally results from too damp tobacco smoked at too rapid a pace.
Finding the best level of moisture for a blend that you like, the best density of packing for that blend, and the best cadence for sipping the tobacco into your mouth and easing out through your nose, take patience, and practice.
That patience will be rewarded. One of the neat things about pipes and tobaccos is that there is an amazing variety of flavors to be discovered. Much more than any other form of smoking.
Couldn't have said it better myself. When I first started it took me about a week to get it down, the first 3 days were the absolute worst on my tongue. The biggest problem with me was smoking far too fast and that would make it burn and taste nasty. It's not a race, just relax and enjoy it. You'll get into your own groove if you stick through the first week or so.
As for your question on smoke color, there's not an indication like that I'm aware of. But there are a few things you can try different: Maybe a different method of packing your bowl (there's a great article on PM about it, Part 1, Part 2). My personal favorite method is the stuff and puff. Also a different tobacco might lessen the bite if you're smoking something that's pretty saturated in flavouring, and of course how fast you're smoking.
Hope this helps you in your new hobby. Don't let a little bite push you away, you won't regret sticking with it. Welcome aboard!
+1 with cigrmaster "Don't give up before magic happens. None of us had great experiences when we first began. We stuck with it and now cannot imagine life without our pipes and tobacco."
That sticking-with-it-phase took me maybe 1 to 3 years depending upon the species of tobacco. Now, many if not most, pipe sessions are everything from sacraments to beatific visions to flights of fancy to touching the face of The Great Spirit, etc. I gave up my pipes once for "health reasons" and found, really and truly, I didn't want to live without them and the joy and pleasure they bring. I may be a self-sabotaging idiot, but there it is.
That sticking-with-it-phase took me maybe 1 to 3 years depending upon the species of tobacco. Now, many if not most, pipe sessions are everything from sacraments to beatific visions to flights of fancy to touching the face of The Great Spirit, etc. I gave up my pipes once for "health reasons" and found, really and truly, I didn't want to live without them and the joy and pleasure they bring. I may be a self-sabotaging idiot, but there it is.
@iaindescribable: it's best not to obsess about burn or smoke production. Relight your pipe if it goes off. Light with the flame barely touching the tobacco, and remove the flame while you puff. If you puff often and hard trying to produce more smoke, you're in for a burn.
I know it's hard and counterintuitive, but you'll get more flavor and more enjoyment if you puff slowly and not too frequently (I haven't timed myself, but I'd guess I puff every half minute or so).
I know it's hard and counterintuitive, but you'll get more flavor and more enjoyment if you puff slowly and not too frequently (I haven't timed myself, but I'd guess I puff every half minute or so).
For me 30 seconds is about right. I don't want it to be, but my mouth is too fragile. I'm probably just going to have to pursue codger blends for the rest of my life, but maybe I shouldn't be too surprised given that it's the fast burning Burley blends that sold multiple orders of magnitude higher volume than anything else back in the 50's and 60's.
A lot of great information here, ive actually only been smoking for a month but i had a couple unique problems in tasting the smoke cause i had similar issues.
when i first started i had some flavor but it was barely noticeable i even went and tried to get advice and watched lots of videos and there was a few things i was doing wrong.
1, i found out i naturally just dont do flavord or mellow tobaccos very well, we all have different tastes and your taste will likely change over time to so dont ever limit yourself.
2, i noticed i tried smoking more trying to figure out whats wrong and i just ended up making it worse, i got used to the smoke which didnt help with flavor, i got impatient and my tongue and mouth was destroyd so if you smoke a bowl try to wait awhile if your not getting anything might or might not help, also make sure you cleanse your mouth freqeuntly with some salt water and or mouth wash to help your mouth recover.
3, i was smoking to fast, even when i thought i was going super duper slow i was still smoking to fast, i kept needing to relight my pipe and i didnt like doing it more then 3 or 4 times or i'd get impatient, but you need to just get used to the idea that your gonna be relighting it a lot especially at first. another thing you can try is to just gently press the button of the stem to your lip and allow cool air to flow into your mouth with the smoke, let the smoke just kinda come in for the ride, that helped me realise i dont need huge plumes of smoke to get flavour and enjoy it, infact i noticed the more smoke there is the hotter its burning and the less flavor there is you just want little puffs.
and the fourth thing for me was kinda myself, for 10 years i had a nasal infection and i didnt even know i had it, i actually did this and found this out just for smoking cause i couldent get any taste was driving me insane even when i retrohaled i got almost no taste even with stronger flavourful tobaccos, so i used a netipot for about 2 weeks and i got rid of it and the flavor tripled.
another thing is, buy more then 1 tobacco, like i mentiond before i feel like if i just smoke one none stop i get used to the flavor and space out on it and or just dont pick it up as much as i did the first bowl or two, try to change it up every bowl see if it helps.
try different types of tobaccos too, on the packages or tins it will tell you usually what type of tobacco is in it, i would try more purer leafs first, like captain black has virginias and burleys and cavendish. try those tobaccos seperately to pick up on the individual flavors first that helped me realise what i liked and or could taste better or not, at first i loved cavendish, after i tried a burley, i HATED cavendish i dont even smoke aromatics with any large amounts of cavendish in it, however because tastes seem to constantly change when you start out i may be going back, so just keep a open mind and try to stay persistent with it and i'd try like 5-10 different tobaccos and the smoking of atleast a few ounces total before giving up on it.
You may just find a tobacco thats amazing to you, one tobacco really does make all the difference and depending on your chemsitry that will dictate your joyment with it.
when i first started i had some flavor but it was barely noticeable i even went and tried to get advice and watched lots of videos and there was a few things i was doing wrong.
1, i found out i naturally just dont do flavord or mellow tobaccos very well, we all have different tastes and your taste will likely change over time to so dont ever limit yourself.
2, i noticed i tried smoking more trying to figure out whats wrong and i just ended up making it worse, i got used to the smoke which didnt help with flavor, i got impatient and my tongue and mouth was destroyd so if you smoke a bowl try to wait awhile if your not getting anything might or might not help, also make sure you cleanse your mouth freqeuntly with some salt water and or mouth wash to help your mouth recover.
3, i was smoking to fast, even when i thought i was going super duper slow i was still smoking to fast, i kept needing to relight my pipe and i didnt like doing it more then 3 or 4 times or i'd get impatient, but you need to just get used to the idea that your gonna be relighting it a lot especially at first. another thing you can try is to just gently press the button of the stem to your lip and allow cool air to flow into your mouth with the smoke, let the smoke just kinda come in for the ride, that helped me realise i dont need huge plumes of smoke to get flavour and enjoy it, infact i noticed the more smoke there is the hotter its burning and the less flavor there is you just want little puffs.
and the fourth thing for me was kinda myself, for 10 years i had a nasal infection and i didnt even know i had it, i actually did this and found this out just for smoking cause i couldent get any taste was driving me insane even when i retrohaled i got almost no taste even with stronger flavourful tobaccos, so i used a netipot for about 2 weeks and i got rid of it and the flavor tripled.
another thing is, buy more then 1 tobacco, like i mentiond before i feel like if i just smoke one none stop i get used to the flavor and space out on it and or just dont pick it up as much as i did the first bowl or two, try to change it up every bowl see if it helps.
try different types of tobaccos too, on the packages or tins it will tell you usually what type of tobacco is in it, i would try more purer leafs first, like captain black has virginias and burleys and cavendish. try those tobaccos seperately to pick up on the individual flavors first that helped me realise what i liked and or could taste better or not, at first i loved cavendish, after i tried a burley, i HATED cavendish i dont even smoke aromatics with any large amounts of cavendish in it, however because tastes seem to constantly change when you start out i may be going back, so just keep a open mind and try to stay persistent with it and i'd try like 5-10 different tobaccos and the smoking of atleast a few ounces total before giving up on it.
You may just find a tobacco thats amazing to you, one tobacco really does make all the difference and depending on your chemsitry that will dictate your joyment with it.
It took me months to get my technique honed to where I didn't have a swampy tire fire going with each bowl, regardless of what I was smoking. I wouldn't trust your impressions of any blend too much before you can trust your technique. I love certain blends now that I thought were terrible when I still trying to get the mechanics right
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