Easiest Bowl Shape to keep lit.

[balpipe]

I am a new pipe smoker, and I am about to start carving my first briar pipe. I have only smoked out of one pipe before, so I don't have much experience with various bowl shapes.
Although I enjoy smoking a pipe I am trying to cut back on my tobacco intake, so I am experimenting with various other (legal) plants that have been smoked over the centuries, like coltsfoot. The problem is that these herbs are usually sold drier and ground more finely than pipe tobacco, and so they are more difficult to keep lit.
I was thinking maybe a tall, thinner bowl might be the most cunducive to keeping lit.

 

[ichbinmuede]

Hmm for dry materials like that I think a relatively shallow chamber with a significant taper would be best but that doesn't lend itself well to tobacco at all.

Thought about getting some straight blending tobaccos to make your own blends and cutting/adding to them with some of these?

That way you'd be cutting down on your tobacco intake while being able to use traditional measurements.

 

[marmal4de]

Hahaha, funny, but you might want a pipe more like the one mentioned in this thread. :rofl:

 

[fatman]

Marmal, I was thinking the same thing. perhaps a HEAD shot for a 1 hit wonder. All kid'n aside, I have no experience, however somehow a pipe which holds a filter may help?

 

[marmal4de]

a pipe which holds a filter may help?

I am envisioning a steel screen with tiny holes, that let the smoke through, but not the powder.

 

[ichbinmuede]

Hah in all honesty a bong does work best for those things.

Truly there are great and enjoyable legal plants that a fella with a mind to experiment can enjoy. I've personally indulged my curiosity several times and been satisfied with the experience. There are herbs that will do lots of things for you (cure anything is not one of them as I believe) like more vivid dreams to an analgesic effect.

But really we're off the topic of this forum. This is about tobacco. Though there is at least one that I've tried that I wouldn't mind trying in a mix both because it has a good flavour and aroma and would add to the relaxation of pipe smoking. It is also definitely not that one that is so popular in BC.

 

[johnnyrebel]

I think Ich. is onto a good idea. Perhaps mixing them would be good. Maybe get a pack of screens and a nice little clay bowl? I think that might work well. What do you guys think?

 

[bubbadreier]

ichbinmuede is right, this is a forum for Tobacco and Tobacco Pipes.

 

[lagavulin92]

I agree with the common sentiment. We're civilized people.
Ignoring the sacrilegous nature of your interest, i'll give the technical question a technical answer: If the weed is ground to fine, you'll always have trouble to keep it lit normally. First of all the weed cant be compressed into a piece of coal and the dusty ashes create an extreme isolator from air. What you can probably do, however, is char a piece of coal, put it on the weed, tamp when needed, stir the ashes up from time to time to give the piece of coal the necessary oxygen to combust.
Don't smoke it :puffpipe: in a briar. :puffpipe:

 

[balpipe]

Thank you very much. I guess I need to reiterate that I'm not looking to use any mind altering substances, so much as try to recreate the entire pipe-smoking experience that my grandfather used to love without the nicotine that I am trying to cut back on/eventually quit. Obviously It's easy enough to smoke anything if the purpose is just to get the smoke inside of you, but the ritual of packing a bowl, tampling it to the right consistency and enjoying a 20-40 minute session on the porch while reading a book is something that may unfortunately be limited to tobacco. Regardless of what I choose, I will basically be carving and drilling a briar pipe from scratch similar to the one my grandfather had, so maybe I will just use tobacco, or blends like Ich suggested.
FYI the herbal mixes I am smoking (NOT weed) are already common in some countries as tobacco-alternative aromatic cigarettes (so the consistency available is much more similar to cigarette tobacco). They can offer a pleasant, subtle and complex flavor affected by both the ingredients and the pipe used. This is another reason I thought a pipe-smoker's forum might be the best place to ask.

 

[romeowood]

I think it's a perfect place to ask, balpipe. In fact I was just reading a bit on one of Hearth & Home's blends with deertongue in it, an aromatic non-tobacco herb used in it, Capitol Stairs.
Brass pipe screens are readily available online or at many smoke shops, and should do the trick for you. They're basically very fine-mesh brass screens cut into a circle that you can pack to the bottom of your pipe; if one doesn't do the trick you can try using two. To note, you will likely need to clean the pipe more thoroughly after each smoke than you would with tobacco, and will likely find that there is significant "ghosting", or a lingering of flavor from previous smokes.
I wish you luck in your experiments, and let us know how the carving goes. With pictures!