How To Avoid Blocking The Draught Hole

[David_Lawrence]

Hi all,

I've had a few good smokes ruined by this, particularly on my Ascorti KS Business* (bent with large egg shaped bowl) whose draught hole is about 5mm above the bottom of the chamber and I'm hoping you can drop some pointers on how to avoid blocking it.

What's been happening is I'll be enjoying the smoke, great airflow and everything, then when I lightly tamp it down or even just try to break down the top layer of ash, the draught hole will become completely blocked. If I try to clear the hole with the pipe tool, I may succeed only for another piece of tobacco to move in its place and block it again.

The most effective means of clearing it I've found is to cover the chamber and blow through the pipe, though naturally this makes a mess and is all around unpleasant. Pushing the debris away with the tool and sucking through the pipe can also work but likewise, it's not pleasant.

My guess is that I probably need to be packing the tobacco down deeper into the chamber before starting but then I surely wouldn't get that amazing open airflow that came with light tamping only. Rather than experiment and have a few more frustrating wasted smokes, I thought I'd be better off putting it to the board and trying what you suggest.

Thanks,

*photo of the chamber for reference; the matchstick is my attempt to conveying some perspective on where the hole is located as it looks like it's at the bottom when it's actually on the side, very low down on the curve

 

[gamzultovah]

I have a few pipes that do this and I found if I insert a pipe cleaner down the shaft and into the bowl and leave it there during the packing process, it solves the issue 90% of the time.

 

[David_Lawrence]

I have a few pipes that do this and I found if I insert a pipe cleaner down the shaft and into the bowl and leave it there during the packing process, it solves the issue 90% of the time.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. Have you found it to be better or worse in relation to how deep/tight you pack to tobacco at the bottom of the chamber?

 

[python]

I have a few pipes that do this and I found if I insert a pipe cleaner down the shaft and into the bowl and leave it there during the packing process, it solves the issue 90% of the time.

+1 to this.
Great advice.

 

[upnorth1]

I just run a pipe cleaner through it and take another puff. This tells me if the tobacco is now too loose and the blockage was making me think otherwise. Then a tamp will fix that. With suspect tobaccos I'll run a pipe cleaner through the airway before I light it to make sure nothing is blocking the airflow.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Packing too tightly can force tobacco into the draft hole as well. Once steam and heat swell the tobacco it makes the issue worse.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

This is why I require my pipes to easily pass a pipe cleaner. A plugged draught hole doesn't occur frequently but when it does, it's easily fixed with a pipe cleaner. 10 second solution, smoke on.

 

[gamzultovah]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. Have you found it to be better or worse in relation to how deep/tight you pack to tobacco at the bottom of the chamber?

My method of packing a pipe is always the same: I sprinkle tobacco into the chamber up to the rim and push it down until it reaches the half way mark, then I sprinkle more tobacco in and push it down to about the three quarter mark, then I sprinkle tobacco in until just under the rim and start the charring process. Now, here’s another thought, if you smoke flake tobacco and like the fold-and-stuff method of packing your pipe, you can deicate this pipe to those particular blends. No chance of blocking an airway by the fold-and-stuff method. ?

 

[didimauw]

How is the tobacco prepared? Sounds like cube cut. I break up my tobacco so small, that without a filter, pieces would suck right into my mouth.

 

[David_Lawrence]

Thanks for the suggestions. Surprisingly I did manage to get a long soft churchwarden pipe cleaner to pass from mouthpiece to draught hole despite the pipe being bent - that's something I hadn't expected (and thus not tried) so I'm glad I have a remedy on hand now.

Also great idea from gamz with the folded flake, if I can't prevent this blocking from occurring then I'll still have that option. I've probably been packing too tight so I'll keep the cleaner in the hole while filling and try not to go overboard.

The response times on this forum are unreal—incredibly active community here! Cheers.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Packing too tightly can force tobacco into the draft hole as well. Once steam and heat swell the tobacco it makes the issue worse.

Especially if the tobacco is holding much moisture.

Another thing that helps is to shake the can, tin, jar, pouch to bring the larger pieces to the top. Load those first, then the finer bits on top.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Especially if the tobacco is holding much moisture.

Especially true in a rush job or with aromatics.?

 

[tobefrank]

I tend to cube cut flakes and always make sure I load the largest pieces first. This seems to prevent blockage most of the time.

Because I only tap the pipe to further compact the pack, if the rest draw is tight this usually indicates that the draft hole is blocked which is then easily fixed with a pipe cleaner.

 

[renfield]

With a known troublesome pipe or blend I’ll put a small pinch of longer, coarser cut Virginia or Burley blend in as a screen of sorts. It doesn’t take much.

Cubes are the sneakiest, everything’s fine then, blammo, the cork is in.

If it’s not a cube you can try forming the first pinch into a ball and lightly wedging it so it’s levitated above the draft hole. This approach is a bit trickier.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If it’s not a cube you can try forming the first pinch into a ball and lightly wedging it so it’s levitated above the draft hole.

Or just cannon ball pack the chamber.