How Long Did It Take You?

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voorhees

Lifer
May 30, 2012
3,834
937
Gonadistan
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

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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?

 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,895
31,635
34
Burlington WI
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

Lifer
Nov 23, 2010
1,484
5,148
I have been smoking a pipe for 50 years and I am still learning new techniques thanks in part to this forum. :wink:

 

sparrowhawk

Lifer
Jul 24, 2013
2,941
219
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

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 10, 2011
128
0
Cincinnati, Ohio USA
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.

 

madox07

Lifer
Dec 12, 2016
1,823
1,689
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 ...

 

jorchamp

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 21, 2016
102
0
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

Lifer
Feb 13, 2013
3,104
18,036
Michigan
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

Lifer
May 29, 2011
3,896
75
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.

 

wasnsfisher

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 28, 2017
116
0
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

 
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