How Long Did It Take You?

[voorhees]

There are days I smoke without issue. Then I'll have a day where nothing goes right. Is it me? The pipe I picked? The tobacco? Weather? Could be.

 

[mikethompson]

Some times we are better than others. One of my first times I didn't need any relights and I didn't get any bite. I was super proud and overconfident. But that was one time.
It's the journey not the destination right?

 

[paddypiper]

Several times I've thought I know all I need to know, then I learn something new which often improves what I've been doing.

 

[didimauw]

That's a good question. After a year, I thought I had it down. Then another year I figured out how to pack in a way that worked for me. Then I found "My" tobacco. Then I leaned how to breath smoke. So probably a couple years.

 

[keith929]

I have been smoking a pipe for 50 years and I am still learning new techniques thanks in part to this forum. :wink:

 

[sparrowhawk]

This may sound like heresy, but after three years I learned to fill the burning chamber entirely with just fingers, tamping down often with just my thumb. But not always, otherwise I'd forgoe using my best .12 gauge tamper shell Erik made for his woodcock Hunter's pipe

 

[choch]

I've been smoking pipes for 35 years since I was 16 but it hasn't been until the past 7 or 8 years that I've really mastered the craft. I credit this site more than anything else for helping me learn how to properly load my pipes and how to keep my tobacco at the right moisture level (drier than I used to keep it) among other things. I don't have to relight as often as I used to, I get a cooler smoke and I'm able to smoke right down to the bottom of the bowl now.

 

[seagullplayer]

I'll let you know when it happens...

 

[fitzy]

Frank that's probably a good idea. Some blends aren't worth the struggle.

 

[madox07]

A few months to properly smoke, as in no tongue bite, no bowl gurgling, no relight every other puff - but I guess pipe tobacco never seizes to amaze me. Every so often I get into a blend that makes me wonder ... how on earth do I properly smoke this!? I guess there is no right way, except for the way you feel comfortable with ...

 

[Chasing Embers]

I guess there is no right way, except for the way you feel comfortable with ...

:clap:

 

[jorchamp]

It is a life long learning experience. When smoke attentively (not out of habit and mindlessly) I learn something about the smoking experience: from how to pack, light up and how to taste. Also about the tobaccos.

 

[krizzose]

It took me a good year before I was pretty sure I'd have a good smoke instead of a swampy inferno. Since then it's been incremental gains but sometime I surprise myself with laughably inept packing. But experience pays off: now I don't hesitate to shitcan a bowl if necessary and start over

 

[rigmedic1]

I got the basics worked through in a few months, but I didn't even know about tampers for 20 years. After 40 years of this, I still am learning new things about technique.

 

[psychpipes]

It's been only 5-ish years of pipe smoking for me. I can keep it lit, not singe my facial hair, and not burn my tongue. Smoke properly? I don't know what that is.

 

[wasnsfisher]

25 years ish. Put baccy in pipe. Light it, smoke it. Get another pipe later, repeat. Takes some time. More for some, less for others. Don't sweat it, just do it. Life's too short