Drying Success

[cragdhack]

Greetings!

My first delve into drying my tobacco has been a success.
The blend I did this with is Rattray's Blossom Temptation. First couple bowls I tried didn't go too well. Way too many relights or it burned straight through, had to puff a little hard to really keep it going at times, taste tended to go from 'slightly sweet smoke' to 'sour ash".

I was confused. Loose pack just went hot and sour, burned right down; Tight pack was relighting hell, with some flavor, but still sour. So I thought that it may be a little too moist, that it doesn't light easy, but when forced it would quickly turn to ash, the steam carrying the nastiness into my mouth.

Big pan, paper towel bed, spread the tobacco over, then covered it with more paper towel. Left it there for about 16 hours. When I got back to it, it sure felt different. It wasn't too dry, no crunch, but there was definite progress.
The first bowl of this went a lot better. Couple relights, but it was alright, though a lot quicker than the Latakia blend I have.
Second bowl came from a couple pinches of tobacco that got another hour of drying, on the bare pan, this one was even better and took a little longer to smoke.

In conclusion, lesson learned through practical application, though I need to experiment more. And I assume the shorter duration and hotter bowl in general comes also from the blend being very different than the Latakia I have.
Will need to smoke more and get a feel on how to adjust based on what the tobacco is doing in the chamber.

Hope anyone else having similar issues finds this and considers it as a possibility. I've no authority to guide anyone on the topic, but I'll happily present my findings.

 

[olkofri]

Drying time depends a lot on the relative humidity of the locale.

Did you lose too much flavour with the tobacco being almost crumbling dry?

 

[cragdhack]

Drying time depends a lot on the relative humidity of the locale.

Did you lose too much flavour with the tobacco being almost crumbling dry?

Nope. not at all. Smell was much the same, taste was a lot better.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've never needed to dry Rattray's aromatics, always perfect from the tin. But, whatever works.

 

[Inspired Idler]

The drying concept was an epiphany for me, and I assume for most guys. It's one of those things that needs to be passed on from a mentor or stumbled upon in research and discussion. Early on I had several blends that I smoked once and never came back to because I had trouble keeping them lit, they would scorch my tongue, or had muted flavors. However, once I dried them they became magnificent. Congrats on your discovery, it only gets better from here.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

and I assume for most guys. It's one of those things that needs to be passed on from a mentor or stumbled upon in research and discussion.

Actually, I was misled for a few years by older smokers. They would do this pinch thing and say that the tobacco had to hold together when you pinch it. It was as if the majority of pipe smokers were tricking us. But, in retrospect, I imagine they were most likely aromatic smokers. Aromatics are different in that the fake taste/aroma they like comes from the liquid toppings that they spray on the tobacco late in processing.

I dry all of my tobaccos except the aromatics. I just leave them still wet as I dump them into the garbage. JK

 

[anotherbob]

The drying concept was an epiphany for me, and I assume for most guys. It's one of those things that needs to be passed on from a mentor or stumbled upon in research and discussion. Early on I had several blends that I smoked once and never came back to because I had trouble keeping them lit, they would scorch my tongue, or had muted flavors. However, once I dried them they became magnificent. Congrats on your discovery, it only gets better from here.

Or on accident. Like you open a tin and think oh wow I've ruined this it's too dry. Well might as well see if it's still worth smoking.... Holy sheet it's way better then it was before. At least that's how I got into it.

 

[bullet08]

Lately, I almost stopped drying tobacco. Not because I don't like a nice bowlful of good tobacco, but I just don't have time to wait. From this, as long as the blend isn't dripping wet, I don't see too many down side we talk about. Yes, there's slight initial "bite". Yes, there's a bit of moisture at the end. But bite goes away quickly, and dottles are minimal. One thing that seems to be the biggest issue is the initial light. It takes some effort to get that first light to go smooth. But that only takes few tries. Once it's going, typical usual relight here and there. Don't really distract me from enjoy a nice bowl.

 

[jpmcwjr]

You don't have to wait one second if you pre-dry a bunch of jars at the outset.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Lately, I almost stopped drying tobacco. Not because I don't like a nice bowlful of good tobacco, but I just don't have time to wait. From this, as long as the blend isn't dripping wet, I don't see too many down side we talk about. Yes, there's slight initial "bite". Yes, there's a bit of moisture at the end. But bite goes away quickly, and dottles are minimal. One thing that seems to be the biggest issue is the initial light. It takes some effort to get that first light to go smooth. But that only takes few tries. Once it's going, typical usual relight here and there. Don't really distract me from enjoy a nice bowl.

I love that we have members with different perspectives. Without differences, who would we arm-wrestle with?

 

[--dante--]

With few exceptions (depending on the tobacco), I always have my next bowl drying in advance in a little tobacco tray. When it's only one bowls-worth, it seems to dry to my liking pretty quickly since it's all spread out in a little tray -- especially if it's in the sun.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Why not just dry out the whole tin or jar? Heck, if I know I will be smoking the whole pound, I just leave it out till I am done. There is nothing wrong with leaving the whole amount dry. I only try to keep my tobacco moist when I am wanting to age it. But, once it is popped for smoking, I just dry it. There is nothing terrible going to happen.

 

[solideogloria86]

Actually, I was misled for a few years by older smokers. They would do this pinch thing and say that the tobacco had to hold together when you pinch it. It was as if the majority of pipe smokers were tricking us.

Funny! I was taught the "pinch test"
and told when it didn't clump together or stick to your fingers it was ready. Still use it to this day. I've also developed a sort of intuitive feel for the temperature too. Even after it stops sticking together, if it feels too cold, it's likely still too moist for my preference. Don't really know how else to describe the temperature aspect, but it's part of my process.

 

[bullet08]

Just had nicely dried Balkan Supreme. It basically smoked itself down to virgin white ashes. An hour went by as thought it was 15 min. Now that was a good smoke.

 

[didimauw]

I "decant?" My Carter Hall into a glass jar, that sits inside my round pipe stand. Most times, I leave the lid off the jar to dry everything out and occasionally mix the tobacco to get it to air out evenly in the jar. Or in summer, I put the lid on, to keep it away from the humidity. Either way, it's a process to get it how I like it. Wet tobacco tasted just like hot air to me! Hahaha

 

[brian64]

With few exceptions (depending on the tobacco), I always have my next bowl drying in advance in a little tobacco tray. When it's only one bowls-worth, it seems to dry to my liking pretty quickly since it's all spread out in a little tray -- especially if it's in the sun.

That's about what I do too...I've found that drying too much for too long does result in some flavor loss. It varies with the blend, but I usually smoke 3 bowls per day and I try not to dry out much more than a day's worth at a time.

 

[Servant King]

The drying concept was an epiphany for me, and I assume for most guys. It's one of those things that needs to be passed on from a mentor or stumbled upon in research and discussion. Early on I had several blends that I smoked once and never came back to because I had trouble keeping them lit, they would scorch my tongue, or had muted flavors. However, once I dried them they became magnificent. Congrats on your discovery, it only gets better from here.

^^^^ This

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Far too many blends still burn poorly even crunchy bone dry (dense flakes), but if the cut is right it's going to burn without relights almost no matter how wet it is.
Then sometimes even if a blend is hard starting and wet, as long as you hit it with a torch lighter at the start it will go without too much trouble.

 

[Jimmy_Jack]

I come from the cigar world. I always dry box my cigars a week in advance, so drying pipe tobacco was intuitive to me. Just made sense. I suppose it helps that I don’t like aromatics.

With cigars you have the same effect. Drying is needed to get good flavors and good burn. Particularly Cuban cigars.