Flint And Steel.

[bullet08]

Used to be into starting fire primitive ways. No, I don't live in California. Thought about starting the pipe with flint and steel for awhile. Just read from another forum I belong to, the trick is using charcloth. I gotta give it a try. Will post a result. Heard it's better than Zippo. Another option was using jute twine like hemp twine. Rather excited.

 

[Gecko]

Used to be into starting fire primitive ways. No, I don't live in California. Thought about starting the pipe with flint and steel for awhile. Just read from another forum I belong to, the trick is using charcloth. I gotta give it a try. Will post a result. Heard it's better than Zippo. Another option was using jute twine like hemp twine. Rather excited.

So you were just visiting or passing through California then? :P
Sounds interesting and cumbersome. Do please post results with pics of how you do it

 

[Casual]

I use lots of these ways to start a campfire, but none are good for pipes. The jute twine is most effective when you unwind the strands and ball them into a tinder bundle, which is also poor for pipe lighting.

I think you’re likely going to have more luck doing it the way they did in the olden days, which is to make a fire, and then light a spill in the fire to light your pipe. Spills are curly strands of wood that come from planing a board.

 

[Chasing Embers]

 

[yaddy306]

 

[pantsBoots]

Weather dependent, to be sure, but an excellent option on sunny afternoons. Up the game with a small Fresnel lens

 

[sumusfumus]

Try using a "fire piston"....far more portable than flint and steel. Drop the charred ember(s) onto your pipe tobacco, or use the ember to light a thin dry kindling stick for a "match". Use a small leather "possibles" bag to transport pipe, tobacco, and other pipe-ish accoutrements.

Have fun in the 18th century, and shinin' times.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You build a fire in the fireplace first, and then use a pair of coal tongs to pull a lump of smoldering coal out and hold it above your pipe to light it. Don't touch it to your pipe, just let it hover about half to an inch above, and draw the heat down with your puff.

This was just the first Victorian set of tongs that came up in my search. They used a lot of different styles.

 

[petes03]

My question is why? Granted, it will be neat to see if it works, but it seems like a lot of effort to get a pipe going. It did at least remind me that I should make some more char cloth.

 

[ashdigger]

Flint and Steel? Pfft, I normally use a small thermonuclear weapon.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I've heard on the TV that you can use a tampon like you do charcloth, without all of the little pieces getting loose in your vagina... :::cough cough::: If I am understanding this right. But, I can see the thrill in starting fires like our ancestors did. And, I used to find it humiliating when I would go camping and use starter fluids, blow torches, and ten pounds of cardboard to get the camp fire started, and then have to evacuate because some idiot thumps a cigarette into the brush.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Used to be into starting fire primitive ways. No, I don't live in California. Thought about starting the pipe with flint and steel for awhile. Just read from another forum I belong to, the trick is using charcloth. I gotta give it a try. Will post a result. Heard it's better than Zippo. Another option was using jute twine like hemp twine. Rather excited.

I’ve started plenty of fires with flint, steel, and charcloth. Never lit a pipe that way. Not even sure how well that would work.

 

[NookersTheCat]

Yeah it would definitely not work directly. You need the charcloth or some other accelerant-like tinder to take the spark and make an ember. Then you have to turn that ember into a flame. Then with that flame you can light your pipe. It would, I'm sure, be very satisfying but by absolutely no means practical for day-to-day use. Better? Well, you can argue it is better to light your pipe with a rope or cedar spills... due to no residual fuel flavours... but you can far more easily prelight those with a BIC or Zippo than with a flint and steel.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You build a fire in the fireplace first, and then use a pair of coal tongs to pull a lump of smoldering coal out and hold it above your pipe to light it. Don't touch it to your pipe, just let it hover about half to an inch above, and draw the heat down with your puff.
View attachment 44767
This was just the first Victorian set of tongs that came up in my search. They used a lot of different styles.

There's also ember tongs made for pipes with a tamper.

 

[bullet08]

For campfire, used to make jute twine bird nest and dropped charcloth that took the ember. A lot of blowing into the nest holding it up like in Lion King. For pipe, I'll try dropping small size charcloth directly on to of tobacco. Probably will use one of older pipes I don't use any more.

 

[Magpiety]

This is interesting. I was under the impression that pre-match invention pipe smokers would light a candle from a tinderbox and would then light their pipes from the candle, rather than lighting directly from the tinder.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This is interesting. I was under the impression that pre-match invention pipe smokers would light a candle from a tinderbox and would then light their pipes from the candle, rather than lighting directly from the tinder.

My understanding is that candles were expensive, equivocally speaking. Maybe some did, and others used pieces of wood or coal in tongs, or straw... necessity is the mother...

 

[Magpiety]

My understanding is that candles were expensive, equivocally speaking. Maybe some did, and others used pieces of wood or coal in tongs, or straw... necessity is the mother...

Very interesting. My amish relatives all smoked pipes, and they lit them just like you're describing. It wasn't really because they were cheaping out on matches/lighters, but more that they couldn't be bothered to hitch up the wagon and go all the way into town when they ran out.

 

[The Clay King]

Would like to try authentic pipe / fire lighting when I take part in living history re-enactments!

 

[FurCoat]

I would be concerned with damaging the pipe.