Help Please: First Pipe, Tounge Bite :(

[antimatter]

Folks, I hope this question finds you well.
Yesterday, I bought my first pipe ever, it's a baby pipe from Dr. Plumb without filters, and the tobacco was captain black the gold one.
I watched several videos, and read a lot of articles. But I can't taste the tobacco, in addition, it seems that I got a Tounge bite. please note that I live in Egypt, thus there is no much brands, only plastic imported from Chine without any brands, and Dr. Plumb which I found it by chance.
I don't know which part I did it wrong.

 

[sablebrush52]

Dry your tobacco more before packing and smoke it more slowly. Puffs to get the tobacco burning, then light sips of the smoke. If the pipe goes out, just relight. Eventually you will find the best combination between prepping your tobacco and the speed with which you smoke it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Dry your tobacco more before packing and smoke it more slowly. Puffs to get the tobacco burning, then light sips of the smoke. If the pipe goes out, just relight. Eventually you will find the best combination between prepping your tobacco and the speed with which you smoke it.

+1000

 

[scrooge]

Welcome to the forum. Sablebrush52 an chasingembers are2 of the most trusted an wise smokers on this forum. You can take there advice to the banks.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Everything sounds normal, not that tongue bite is normal, but people puffing way too hard when they start is.
Your concept of a "puff" needs to change to a "sip", smoke is always going to be irritating to your mouth to a certain extent, the question is as much about how much exposure you give it as doing anything right or wrong.
Flavor is something that will come naturally with time, just like someone with a diet of milk and potatoes eating a plate of spicy food, at first you taste nothing but spice and it's just upsetting, but after a few weeks you'll be able to taste the nuances of the flavors.
If you have tongue bite I suggest waiting a few days between bowls, continual irritation can lead to getting open sores in your mouth, if something doesn't feel right, stop. Make sure you're healthy before continuing to try and figure out how to smoke a pipe comfortably.

 

[disinformatique]

I agree with Sable and ChasingEmbers as well. Plus get rid of the Captain Black Gold, it has no strength or flavour and hence it will make you puff more resulting in tongue burn (not just the bite)
Instead buy proper tobacco Orlik Golden Slices for a nice simple VA Flake, GL Pease Westminster for a proper English, GL Pease Haddo's Delight for a VaPer and perhaps Rattray's Bagpipers Dream or GL Pease Virginia Cream for a nice aro.
Cheers,

Chris :puffpipe:

 

[newbroom]

I think the easiest 'mistake' a novice makes is packing too tightly. If you have to draw on your pipe too hard, it results in negative consequences.

Slow, gentle puffs, just enough to keep it lit, and even then, you may require a relight or two, but that's ok.

 

[pagan]

Dry your tobacco more before packing and smoke it more slowly.

DIDO!

Welcome

 

[ben88]

Perhaps this information will be useful
http://www.tobacco1.com/pipe-tobacco-traders/egypt.html

 

[shutterbugg]

If you pack crunchy-dry tobacco tightly and puff it too hard it will bite just as much as if you do the same with tobacco at the ideal moisture. OTOH, packing slightly-moist tobacco more loosely and puffing slowly will tame the bite, but the topping flavor will not have evaporated as much. This is especially the case with garbage OTC blends like CB whose flavor derives almost entirely from topping, and is soaked in PG which requires extended drying-times.
So in your case, with limited access to tobacco blends, I would not suggest the perfunctory knee-jerk suggestion to dry the tobacco. Concentrate on looser packing (don't follow the "drinking straw" draw test...if you can feel any resistence, you're packed too tight), and slow puffing (one gentle draw every 4-5 seconds as a start). Don't be sucked in by pipe "hobbyist rules" and feel humiliated if you need to relight frequently.

 

[johncorosz]

When your new to pipe smoking a lot of things can come into play that cause tongue bite. That said a certain amount of tolerance will need to be built up as well I noticed. After many years I notice that the tongue bite is not an issue even when I smoke like a locomotive and break all the rules which should be causing me major tongue bite.
Sadly I have developed another issue. I find that my entire mouth just feels nasty, dried out and now my dentist says that my gumline looks like that of a person who chews tobacco daily. Well she may have a point as I notice that my whole mouth has this sort of burning feeling no matter what I smoke or I how I smoke it. If I take wee puffs and space the inhalations out wide I can smoke the bowl fresh but after 10-15 inhalations I have to dump the pipe out as the feeling in my mouth is uncomfortable. I chalk it up to genetics. Same as a development 2 years ago where I noticed I could no longer get a buzz let alone drunk off alcohol. My doctor said it happens to many folks around the 40-50 year mark. Either way you slice it seems to add up to my body forcing me to give up all my "bad habits" but it's really hard. I loved to get a buzz drinking at least once or twice a month and I like my pipe each morning and again in the evening.
But don't let the tongue bite worry you for now. Smoke slow, pack lightly and keep humidity in your tobacco. I just put a wadded up paper towel with some distilled water sprayed on it in my tobacco tub and it has not let me down all these years.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Don't be sucked in by pipe "hobbyist rules" and feel humiliated if you need to relight frequently."
How very true. When I took to the pipe 15 months ago I was forever relighting but that was mainly down to my poor packing technique. However, now I have got packing pretty much sussed out I still occasionally have to relight and do not regard it as anything other than part of enjoying my pipe, nothing wrong with relights.
Welcome to the forum by the way ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[prairiedruid]

Good advice has been given and I'll add having some tea or lemonade to drink as you smoke can help as well.

 

[aldecaker]

Nobody's pushing any "hobbyist rules". People ask questions, other people respond with what works for them, and if it doesn't happen to jive with Shutterbugg's opinion, he excoriates it as "hobbyist rules". I've never seen a bigger load of horseshit in my entire life.

 

[jpmcwjr]

But he's certainly consistent with crapping on others, be it for liking good lighters, or pens, or other items or equipment, or for solid smoking advice based on rational thought and experience.
And I've not seen anyone put down re-lights for newbies OR long time smokers.
Oh, well.

 

[aldecaker]

There is no evil cabal of "pipe hobbyists" conspiring to warp the minds and wills of people with beginner questions.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Some PG soaked blends can be left to sit for years and not "dry out". That's "wet" with PG, not water, there's a difference, and the OP is talking about Captain Black.

Chances are "drying" in this case would accomplish nothing, and you do lose flavor.
Not to mention some of the best burning blends have been sticky OTC's type blends like 1-Q or a Molto Dolce. The burning rate has as much to do with the cut of the tobacco and the base of the blend as anything.

The only blends I've ever had to smother because they burn too fast are sticky, wet, fresh from the tin Aromatics.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Well - there's a couple schools of thought for you.
Now the work is on you, OP. Try the different methods and find out what works for you. Watching videos, reading articles, asking advice on forums are all well and good, but nothing will substitute experience.
Smoking your first pipe and not enjoying it for the reasons you mention is more common than the alternative. Practice makes perfect (or whatever perfect means for smoking a pipe).

 

[mawnansmiff]

"...but nothing will substitute experience."
Indeed, we all get there eventually (assuming we don't throw the towel in), it's just that for some it takes longer...but the journey is certainly worth it ::
"And I've not seen anyone put down re-lights for newbies OR long time smokers."
John, I think the typical new smoker assumes he is doing something wrong if he is forever relighting.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[shutterbugg]

Nobody's pushing any "hobbyist rules".

LMAO!! Smoking to the bottom of the bowl with the least amount of relights is frequently cited as something to which all pipesmokers ought aspire, and expressed with the tacit implication that failure to do so is a sign of poor technique. Drying tobacco is a frequent admonition expressed with the same tacit implication. Anyone who smokes blends straight out of the tin and dumps the bottom of the bowl rather than suck all the accumulated tars into their mouth is often chided for their poor technique. Those are examples of "hobbyist rules" whose subliminal purpose is to turn pipesmoking into a manly competition wherein those who advocate those rules can exert their dominance.