Having Some Trouble

[frozenchurchwarden]

After trying everything I could think of for about two years, the best advice I can give to a novice who can’t keep a bowl burning is just buy a tub of Carter Hall and smoke that for a while every time you get frustrated.
There are some blends that are just “fuss free”. Given that “Codger Blends” by far sold the most tobacco back in the day, I can’t help but think the percentage of people with these problems is much higher than you would expect just from reading the experiences of seasoned Pipesmokers.
Flakes are the bane of my pipesmoking life, sometimes a bowl of Carter Hall is just as sweet as the ripest coin of Escudo when it’s the only thing I can actually smoke easily enough to relax. Track the burning characteristics of a blend just as carfully as the flavor. If you know something burns well, even if the flavor isn’t the greatest, it might be more worthwhile just to buy what works. Overrated or not, Dunhill blends always burned well for me (probably in part due to the shag like cut).

Also, some of the best bowls I’ve had were packed straight out of a sopping wet tin from one of the Lakeland factories and scorched to life with a butane torch. It is destructive to the pipe, but wet tobacco does hold more flavor.
As with everything YMMV.

 

[derekflint]

How did you make out ?

 

[robcapp]

I struggled for the longest while when I started out - until I changed and used another pipe.

Even though my first pipe was a nice Savinelli - it just wouldn't play nice. I changed it up, used the same prep and pack techniques, and smoked a whole bowl with 1, maybe 2, relights.
Even now with some experience under my belt, when I revisit that difficult pipe - we just don't get along!

 

[samuelgawith01]

Moignus - I hope your pipe smoking is coming along alright.I’ve found that in general, a humidity level of the Daughters & Ryan or Cornell & Diehl blends works best for staying lit longer,and tasting better.

For my flakes,I like to dry them out between eight to twenty four hours prior to smoking.I smoke my flakes without rubbing them out,yet still moist enough to where I can fold,or roll them up.

The flavor is much richer like that,in my opinion.As far as fill the pipe goes,I like to get a draw JUST slightly tighter than when the pipe is empty.To me,this ensures that there is enough air

Flow around the tobacco.This goes for Flake as well as rubbed out.How you go about filling is up to you,as long as there is some air flow around the tobacco.That is the important thing.Lighting and staying lit?,I don’t draw hard when lighting up,I just draw slowly and easily to get more full flavor,and avoid nasty tongue bite.I don’ sweat staying lit too much.Sometimes,my primary light will last one quarter to half way down the bowl before tamping it down a little.With Flake,the relight may be needed sooner,and more often.But no matter,I just relight. No problem.Don’ worry about what the other guy thinks about it.Just enjoy the flavor,the pipe for object that it is,the tobacco for the beautiful substance that it is.One morning,it will all come to you.You will wake up one morning,and it will just come to you.There are many opinions and techniques for filling and smoking a pipe,and breaking in a pipe.When I was a hang

Around at Barclay-Rex in New York,they offered an instruction booklet that suggested only filling a new pipe one quarter full at first,and working up as the cake developed,And you know what?It worked!There are others who insist on filling the bowl all the way,then smoking all the way down.And it works,too!Yet,there are folks who will turn their backs on you if you don’t do it their way.The men at Barclay-Rex never turned on me,not matter how I filled my pipe.What gentlemen they were.Don’t sweat things too much,it will just come to you.

 

[yaddy306]

When I had this problem, what solved it for me was to slow down my smoking. And by "slow down", I don't mean a hard puff, then a longer pause before the next hard puff. I mean a low, low velocity, steady sip all the time.

 

[hawky454]

Also, some of the best bowls I’ve had were packed straight out of a sopping wet tin from one of the Lakeland factories and scorched to life with a butane torch. It is destructive to the pipe, but wet tobacco does hold more flavor.

:crazy:

 

[curl]

To keep the pipe burning is part of why I clench.

I really like my light commuter pipes. Right size for my drive to work, and they’re light for clenching. And clenching is how I manage a slow but constant burn.

 

[skaukatt]

Sounds like a packing issue.

 

[hawky454]

Curl has a good point, clenching definitely helps, I’ve slways been a clencher, I was born a clencher, I’ll die a clencher.

 

[thomasw]

Dry the tobacco so it is crispy. Then smoke or sip the pipe very slowly. Don't fuss about relights. That should solve the issues.

 

[derekflint]

OP went over the hill...........