How dry are you?

[kais1]

how dry should you have your tobacco guys?
mine is crispy....i think its dried out in the sun too much....what is right then?

 

[grue]

I'm still trying to decide if I prefer it drier for less relight hassle or kind of moist for more flavour...

 

[pagan]

dry, but not crumbly in the hand yet moist enure for flavor, dido Grue

 

[zekest]

I smoke VaPers and if I can detect any moisture on my finger tips, I deem it "too moist".
Of course my technique could never pass with aromatics.
We all have to find our own method for the type of cool sweet smoke we want.

 

[warren]

I like my blends to be "just right." That varies with the blends. Too dry is as bad as too wet. It's all about the smoking, not the relights or lack thereof.

 

[robwoodall]

"Just right" does vary by blend. All I can say for sure is that "just right" is (for me) quite a bit more dry than I thought it should have been when I first started.
I spent quite a bit of time re-hydrating tobaccos that were already far too wet, and paid the price in tongue bite.

 

[Chasing Embers]

spent quite a bit of time re-hydrating tobaccos that were already far too wet, and paid the price in tongue bite.

When it's too dry, pack it in your pipe, and blow warm breath through the pipe until you feel heat rising out of the bowl, and it will be perfect.

 

[robwoodall]

chasing,
Yep. I'm pretty sure that it was a post from you that first told me that. It's a great technique!

 

[huntertrw]

Water is a natural byproduct of combustion, so "dry" is a relative term. I agree with the previous posters who stated that their desired degree of dryness is predicated upon the blend in question.
Having said that, I tend to prefer my tobaccos to be dryer.

 

[mso489]

So different between blends. Semois and Five Brothers, for example, ship dry and are delicious. Fire Storm is quite moist and delicious. In general, I think tobacco can get much dryer than most prefer and still be smokeable, and beyond that tasty.

 

[ssjones]

Lestrout likes his "crispy" but I'm a bit more moist than that!
Dry? No maam, dry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNPlp-fGya8

 

[cobguy]

Lestrout likes his "crispy" but I'm a bit more moist than that!

I'm in the "crispy" camp as well ... nothing worse than steam to detract from the flavor and cause tongue fatigue.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'm a crispy guy too. No bite and more flavor. Except in some tobaccos that I have come to like right out of the tin, which is few and far between. Try it all, and come to your own decision. I've spent years trying different methods, packing, drying, pipe shapes, to come up with my own way of getting the best enjoyment and flavor, but everyone is different.

 

[PlanxtyPipes]

I tend to prefer it on the drier side because it seems to burn better for me. Certain blends I will smoke with more moisture than others. Penzance I can smoke fairly moist right out of the package. Sometimes I dry it out a bit if I have time. GL Pease's Gaslight I have to dry out a bit once I slice it. Gawith blends pretty much all need drying for me...rubbed out and dried for at least 30 minutes. The Hearth & Home blends WhiteKnight and BlackHouse I tend to smoke on the dry side since that's how they come straight out of the tin. Dunhill tobaccos are almost always the "perfect moisture" out of the tin to me. The exception is Flake, which I dry a little bit so it burns better.

 

[cigrmaster]

I smoke my tobacco on the moist side as for me it just tastes better. Dry tobacco burns too hot and loses flavor for me. The only 3 blends I dry on a regular basis are Samuel Gawith Best Brown, Full Virginia and St James Flakes, all the others I rarely if ever dry. I honestly don't understand why people smoke their tobacco so dry, can they not taste how hot and cigarette like their tobacco gets when they smoke it so dry?

 

[instymp]

Dryer side than I used too, figured out what Las Vegas was good for 3 weeks ago, driest tobacco I have ever smoked & loved it. Wasn't crunchy dry.

 

[codecreatively]

I used to just pack straight from the tin or jar. A few weeks ago I started drying out my tobacco a bit, maybe an hour or so at 45-50% ambient humidity here. Not crispy, but not super moist either. Bowls have been so much better, and breath smoking keeps the bowl lit and the smoke cool. Tongue bite used to be an issue from all the steam coming from the wet tobacco, not so much anymore.

 

[eagleron]

For you who like it crispy, would that be crumbly? I just bought some SWR it was. It like CH or PA, it was so dry that it was like a chunk of tobacco until I crumbled it up.