I Can't Take It Anymore!

[rhogg]

I understand the feeling. There are YouTube videos on pipe packing. Try some of those methods. Also make sure you have a good char before your first real light. Even if my pipe is going strong on the first light I'll tamp it out and relight. This helped me immensely in the beginning.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I tried the Harry Method, after watching the above video, for the first time today. I have to say I had my best smoke yet. I did do it a bit differently than he did though. I took the amount of tobacco I normally fill my bowl with and put it in my hand, and then I did as he showed. When it appeared I couldn't get any more tobacco in my pipe however, I still had about half that tobacco in my hand. No problem, I just pressed it down like i normally would have and then continued with the Harry Method once more. I used my tamper perhaps twice, after knocking out some excess ash,(I normally find myself using the tamper quite often) and simply put my thumb over the bowl occasionally when it appeared I might be losing my smoke.
After the char light and then the true light, I didn't have to relight even once.
I think I may have found my technique.
Loseth, try doing what I did. It worked for me, it may work for you as well. I Just had the most enjoyable pipe smoke yet.

 

[sjfine]

I have been smoking pipes for a little less than a year. I smoked cigars for about 13 before that. The learning curve for me lasted a long time. At first, I couldn't keep a pipe lit to save my life. And then there was the tongue burn. Not bite, burn. I have scars to prove it.
I didn't much like English tobaccos, and I hate Latakia, but I really didn't know the difference between those types of tobaccos and aromatics. I also thought that aromatics were somehow the Acid-cigars of the pipe world, and having smoked Cuban cigars almost exclusively for a long time, my ego had a hard time.
I'm not sure why I stuck with it, but I did.
Eventually, I found my ritual. And now, I can't keep a pipe out of my mouth.
I can, much of the time, keep a pipe of aromatics lit - with no hit on my ego, if I'm doing nothing but smoking. If I'm working, or doing crosswords, or whatever, I relight often.
I have learned how to sip. I have learned that my favorite packing method is, what I think is the air pocket method; I take stuff a bunch of tobacco in the bowl, clean some of the hanging strands, and push around the rim (not in the middle) until the tobacco is level with, or just under the rim. I think that this leaves an air pocket in the bottom of the bowl. I confirm this when I draw; it is almost as if there is nothing in the bowl, even if the tobaccos feels like is is packed too tightly.
I have found that some pipes, as well as some tobaccos, require slight modifications of my ritual, but over time, I have come to be able to feel my way around.
For me, pipes are so much fun, it is a wonder that they aren't fattening.
Stick with it. Give yourself time. I am confident that you will find your ritual. And, once you do, there will be no turning back.
Edit: Also read this article on the thermodynamics of smoking. It helped me to no end.

 

[numbersix]

For me, pipes are so much fun, it is a wonder that they aren't fattening.

lol!