How Much do you Adjust as you Smoke?

[frozenchurchwarden]

I find that when I smoke a pipe, it tends to burn right down the middle and leave a lot of unburned tobacco on the sides. So I fiddle with it a lot and push some of that unburned tobacco on top of the cherry as it burns down.

I wonder if I am drawing too hard? Does your pipe usually burn pretty evenly, or do you poke around in the bowl multiple times? I find that the first half of a pipe smokes well, but the second half isn't as enjoyable. Might I be packing it too tightly? Or maybe I should just leave the tobacco on the sides alone?

I probably relight 7 or 8 times, not counting charring lights.

The Thermodynamics of Pipe-Smoking - Classic Blog Posts - For smoking pipe and vintage tobacco collectors

Originally Posted Tuesday, February 7, 2009 A great deal has been written about how smoking ...

web.archive.org

(I was shocked and dismayed that the "Passion for Pipes" blog is gone, thankfully we have the wayback machine.)

"As Ermala and Holst explained the dynamics of pipe tobacco combustion, they discovered that even at relatively low combustion temperatures the heat spread out in an extensive area outside the combustion zone (the actual glow point), and that within this heated area - the distillation zone - fractions of various substances (tars, oils, moisture) escaped into the smoke stream without being pyrolized."

Flavor does not come from burning tobacco, it comes from stoving the tobacco, combustion is a necessary evil that only results in the desired stoving effect. The perfect tobacco pipe would never burn anything.
This is why slow smoking gives the best flavor, because you're burning as little as possible while keeping the tobacco hot.

According to this principle you should finish your bowl with as much unburned tobacco as possible.

Of course your tongue has the final say on what is good or not, if re-lighting unburned tobacco tastes good then keep doing it, but general wisdom says if you smoke for enjoyment and the second half of the bowl isn't enjoyable then you should just dump it.

Penny pinchers love to brag about extracting the absolute maximum value out of anything they purchase, but if you value the experience then you're only sabotaging your own evening by fussing over the semantics of whether or not your tobacco has been "smoked".

 

[Seeleybc1]

Yea I’m on board with those thatve mentioned tobacco moisture levels. Letting the tobacco air out and breathe a bit was a pretty huge “ah” moment for me