Go To Pipe Tamper

[gervais]

I love the golf tee users! I’m going to adopt this method

 

[ssjones]

no. i like my pipe nails.

View attachment 15940

I'm a Brebbia pipe name man myself.

 

[rdoss16]

use my railroad nail or my czech tool usually but was in a jam yesterday and used my chapstick tube. it surprisingly fit the bowl well and worked great.

 

[mso489]

I have several Czech tools, one of them going back to my grandfather, a willow branch with a fireproof end, and a pleasing little folding stainless steel tool by Brebbia. However, my highest commendation goes to the pipe nail for several reasons. The sheer simplicity of design and efficiency is inspiring. The tamper is exact, and the scoop is wide enough, tapered enough, and thin enough to clear a pipe bowl effectively. Pipe nails are little works of art and industrial design. They cost so little, they refuse to get lost. They will follow you home no matter what. I have a wooden golf tee hidden in the kitchen for when I need it. And of course, I use my fingers, but they're not that great for scooping or tamping a hot ember. I do flirt with the overpriced Savinelli tampers with bright plastic handles and unscrew picks, but pipe nails keep upstaging them.

 

[briarbuck]

 

[kylef]

I've gradually gone to just using my finger. Easier, plus it seems like I get a better feel of just how much or little I need to push down.

 

[danimalia]

I usually use a cheap pipe nail or Czech tool, but I also have a few empty 7mm rifle shells in the garage that I use if I can't find one of my nails or tools.

 

[davidy97]

Golf tees. I have them laying all over the garage, back porch and truck. Cheap, effective and no issues if I lose one.

 

[sandollars]

Scott Tinker repurposed some Snakewood and some Mammoth tusk and shaped them into the form of a Zeppelin for me.

I use that as a tamper..

 

[sisyphus]

Dunhill style but the pro tip is the Tsuge ones are identical and cost much less. What I've always used and anything else feels wrong after all this time.

 

[tbradsim1]

 

[tbradsim1]

Best and cheapest, adjustable, ends cut at an angle to push cherry away from wall, everyone should have them!

 

[tomnernas2ndson]

I don’t actually have any purpose built tamper yet (maybe Santa will remember me next year)

Golf tees are my go to tool for the job, they seem to work well enough, this is what was in the car just now:

View attachment 15953

I second the golf tees. Especially while working in the yard. Lose one you are out a few cents.

 

[alaskanpiper]

While I have been known to use a nail, pen, mini screwdriver, pipe nail, used filters, pinky finger, and more, I have a couple of these that are my standby tools:

 

[didimauw]

I have an infinite number of tampers and actually forgot one yesterday. Ended up using my fingers, which doesn't bother me. But at the end of the bowl , it makes it harder and dirtier to scrape the dottle out. Lucky for me I'm smoking a Grabow, so I just banged it against the car window to clear it out. Ha.

 

[BROBS]

While I have been known to use a nail, pen, mini screwdriver, pipe nail, used filters, pinky finger, and more, I have a couple of these that are my standby tools:

my problem with these is it's too easy to scrape the edge of the inner rim...
maybe I'm weird.

 

[alaskanpiper]

my problem with these is it's too easy to scrape the edge of the inner rim...
maybe I'm weird.

That it is! A lesson learned almost immediately. You do indeed have to make sure you are holding them at the right angle so that stupid pick (that almost never gets used anyway) doesn't scrape your briar. I got used to it though, second nature now, but I'll probably get something different when these inevitably get lost.

 

[BROBS]

I got a little stash of these off eBay. I’ve seen them called Charatan tampers and also Peterson but I don’t think they are either. Sort of an acrylic amber with rounded brass tamper end. I love them. Lost one in the front garden of the yard and I’ve tried metal detecting it out with no success. I apparently do not understand how to use a metal detector.

 

[subsalac]

Just a 99 cent pipe nail with the end being a little paddle thing. I love the paddle especially because when I find myself not smoking a bowl all the way down, I use it to sort of scoop up ash when my bowl goes out and sort of "spackle" the chamber walls, while removing the bits of tobacco stuck to the walls which lead to brittle cake. Then i dump the ashe if it's difficult to relight. It's also helpful if the bowl I've got isnt tapered and there's tobacco pushed up against the side of the bowl opposite of the draft hole, I just push it towards the hole and tamp at an angle.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Just a 99 cent pipe nail with the end being a little paddle thing. I love the paddle especially because when I find myself not smoking a bowl all the way down, I use it to sort of scoop up ash when my bowl goes out and sort of "spackle" the chamber walls, while removing the bits of tobacco stuck to the walls which lead to brittle cake. Then i dump the ashe if it's difficult to relight. It's also helpful if the bowl I've got isnt tapered and there's tobacco pushed up against the side of the bowl opposite of the draft hole, I just push it towards the hole and tamp at an angle.

I have those little doohickeys all over the place. House, car, smoke shack, work, etc. They are perfectly fine.