How Far down the Bowl do You Go?

[Anchovies]

Hey guys,

I guess most people consider their smoke finished when it's somewhere about 4/5th smoked right?

I know if my own experience that last 1/4 to 1/5 of the bowl is just not as good as the first part. The reasons being obvious - the tobacco underneath has acted like a filter and sucked in all the tar and nicotine and other stuff and by the time I get to smoking it tastes pretty sour and foul. And the last tiny bit at the end is truly rank.

That much being said, I usually try and force myself to smoke it anyway - especially with new pipes - because I have it in my head that it's good for the pipe and I need to break-it-in properly and form a nice cake at the bottom of the bowl.

So, some questions:

1 - Is that really necessary to break in a pipe? To smoke it all the way to the bottom including the foul left-overs when it's almost finished?

2 - I have a nicely carved and interesting pipe I really like. Problem: the intake hole in the bowl is drilled almost 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the bowl! That means that I can never really smoke the last third of the bowl as it's below the line of the "intake hole". This is a new pipe I'm still breaking-in, but given where the hole is drilled, I can't see how it's possible to get a cake to form at the bottom of the bowl! That last bit will never actually smoke. Suggestions? Is it really necessary to build a cake at the bottom given this? Ideally I'd like to build such a big cake at the bottom that it "brings up" the floor of the bowl, but I can't see how it's possible.

3 - I don't have experience smoking large bowls. My pipes that have big bowls, I usually only fill them about half full (or even less). The reason being what I touched on before ... once I've sucked a certain amount of smoke through the underlying tobacco, it starts to taste rank and sour at the bottom. I can only imagine this problem is made even worse with a bigger bowl because the tobacco at the bottom had "filtered" so much much more smoke by the time you get to it! What are your experiences with this? Any tips for enjoying a full, big bowl? (not that I have time - it takes me at least 30 minutes to smoke a small bowl!)

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

If it is no longer enjoyable, tastes bad, or becomes a chore, stop.

You can always come back to the same pipe or start over.

Another suggestion is getting an oil cured pipe, like a Cayuga, which streamlines the break in process.

 

[Briar Lee]

I am utterly convinced by experience that the extreme heat of burning tobacco cures and breaks in a new pipe and this must be done to the air hole in the chamber bottom, about 15-30 smokes.

After break in I rarely smoke a pipe down to the air hole. I may get close, but when it quits tasting good I stop and empty the pipe.

 

[coming to_falling too]

Pipe mud would probably work in bringing up the floor of your pipe with the draft hole drilled high

 

[bullet08]

I rarely smoke to the very bottom. Not that I stop at certain point on purpose. Most of the time, if I smoke near the bottom ember goes out for one reason or the other. Rarely I smoke to ashes, but happens once in awhile. Or ember just goes out due to not paying attention. Sometimes some moisture stops the smoke. Other times, smoke drags on and I just let it go. But no matter, near the bottom of the bowl is the best smoke for me. That's when the smoke is going the best and I'm most relaxed.

 

[warren99]

When breaking in a pipe, I smoke down to the bottom. Thereafter, I usually leave a little dottle in the bowl.

 

[OzPiper]

Breaking in a pipe:
Some do, some don't. I don't/haven't so far. I just fill, and light.
I do have a couple of unsmoked 100 year old pipes that I intend to smoke one day. I will be very careful when I light them up - taking care to heed the advice of wiser heads like @sablebrush52 to wet the inside of the chamber first, then smoke (extremely) slowly

When to stop smoking:
Can only repeat the advice given by @The Amish Tyrant - "when it is no longer enjoyable, tastes bad, or becomes a chore".
Unlike Sherlock Holmes, I find dottle rank and unwholesome.
Occasionally a bowl doesn't do it for me (may be the circumstance, maybe the combo with a particular pipe (doubtful) or I've just had enough. Time to dump the bowl.

Rank and sour taste:
This is due to moist dottle.
Dry, dry, dry your tobacco. Or you're puffing to hard, resulting in XS condensation
You can soak up some of the moisture using pipe cleaners
Using meerschaum chips, Nording Keystones or Sharrow Philtpads will help absorb some of the XS moisture and give a drier smoke.
A lot of members think this totally unnecessary, but I've had months of rain in Sydney recently when it was very difficult to dry tobacco sufficiently

Bringing up the floor of a pipe:
Use pipe mud (lots of recipes online) to raise the floor rather than building cake.
Or you can use meerschaum chips, Nording Keystones or Sharrow Philtpads. Cheap as chips

Large(r) bowls:
Partially fill the bowl. No rule to say you have to fill to the rim.
Or you can stop when you have had enough, and return to the bowl later.
Some advocate leaving hours or even until the following day.
I don't - a habit from my cigar smoking days. Relighting a cigar that has gone out and gone cold is rank, in most instances.

Filling a bowl:
DON'T over pack a bowl. Fill loosely eg gravity fill.
There are YouTube hints on how to fill a pipe bowl.
Most get the hang after a few weeks.
If you tamp, use very light pressure.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I often get a mouthful of ash before I realize the pipe is done.

My pipes that have big chambers

Define large.

Any tips for enjoying a full, big chamber?

Pack it lighter.

 

[sablebrush52]

Every pipe restorer I’ve spoken to over decades has, without reservation, that trying to burn every last thread of tobacco is destructive to your pipe. All that heat and humidity will lead to fissures forming in the lower parts of the chamber. Excessive heat can weaken the structural strength of the briar.
I’ve never once needed to smoke hot to break in a pipe. Not once.
A pipe is broken in when it doesn’t taste of heated wood.
Smoke your pipe carefully at first until it builds up an insulating layer of carbon.

 

[Anchovies]

Pipe mud would probably work in bringing up the floor of your pipe with the draft hole drilled high

What is pipe mud?

 

[coming to_falling too]

What is pipe mud?

You can make it with cigar ash and a little water. Here's an article on reborn pipes

Mixing and using a batch of pipe mud

Blog by Steve Laug Over the years I have used a lot of pipe mud to build up the bottom of a bowl on an over reamed pipe or an airway that entered the bowl too high. I have also used it to protect a…

rebornpipes.com

 

[Chasing Embers]

Pipe mud would probably work in bringing up the floor of your pipe with the draft hole drilled high

Some pipes were intentionally drilled like that to create a moisture trap beneath the draft hole at the bottom of the chamber.

 

[Anchovies]

Some pipes were intentionally drilled like that to create a moisture trap beneath the draft hole at the bottom of the chamber.

Well, if it was intentional then I don't like it very much. It just wastes tobacco by collecting it in a damp plug at the bottom of the bowl.

I looked up pipe mud. Guess I have to go and buy a cigar. Haha.

 

[coming to_falling too]

Some pipes were intentionally drilled like that to create a moisture trap beneath the draft hole at the bottom of the chamber.

Yeah, if I were OP I would just leave it as is, but I would also understand wanting to do it.

 

[AJL67]

Maybe some of those little metal mesh ball screens (ouch and phrasing) would help the OP until he was more comfortable with the pipe and stopped worrying about process as much. I did use them for a couple weeks in a pipe that was odd to me, they come in different sizes.

LAUPHY 50Pcs Stainless Steel Screen Ball High Temperature Resistant Durable Mesh Ball Wire Ball 17 mm with tweezer https://a.co/d/eqKUoFa

 

[Papamique]

The old advice was to break in a new pipe by starting out loading it only 1/3 full for X amount of smokes, then half full for X amount of bowls and then full (or something like this). Greg Pease also has an article on this somewhere breaking in a castello with this method with good affect. Some poo poo this and “just load up and smoke”.

You may want to try this 1/3 method to break in a pipe so your last part of your bowl isn’t a sticky gross filter of tars and saliva from a full bowl and so you don’t over heat.

 

[JOHN72]

I try not to burn the last strands of tobacco. And thus delay, "avoid", the degradation of the bottom of the bowl.

 

[crashthegrey]

The funny thing is, if you prefer to leave a little tobacco at the end of the smoke, it is pointless to worry about breaking in the bottom of the bowl. If you don't smoke it that far down don't worry about a carbon layer that far down. Do what you like and don't overthink it.

 

[reloader]

All that heat and humidity will lead to fissures forming in the lower parts of the chamber.

I have an estate pipe that I picked up some time ago. Those fissures were very evident in the bottom of the chamber. I don't push to make sure I smoke every little bit of tobacco. There are times when its all gone and I thought there should still be more and times when there is dottle and I could have sworn it must have all burned. So if it smokes all the way, great, if it doesn't that's fine for me as well.

 

[FLDRD]

Well, if it was intentional then I don't like it very much. It just wastes tobacco by collecting it in a damp plug at the bottom of the bowl.

Use your larger strands / pieces to pack down in that void at the bottom before you fill and pack with your finer pieces. That way you'll minimize the amount of leaf "lost" in this area and still have the positive effect of the moisture "trap". Otherwise you'll have to modify the bottom or go for a different pipe with a draft hole that suits you better.