Thanks Harris. It's a pretty controversial topic, because I know a lot of pipemen do not clench. And there probably as many ways to enjoy a pipe, as there are pipesmokers. But I've found that for a lot of folks new to the pipe, a great many of them either fail to find a taste in the blend, or worse yet end up damaging the sensitive tissues of the mouth, palet and tongue to hot tobacco smoke. Also, tobacco that hasn't been allowed to dry out properly, or blends with a lot of PEG humectant like many OTC Aros burn hot to begin with, and newbies will often give up thinking pipe smoking is a masochistic practice. Like I said before, pain is not part of the game, and is not part of the learning curve. I think a lot of folks give up the pipe, or say I don't have the patience for this, because they're smoking too hot or too wet, which is the same thing. That's why I recommend clenching because its difficult or near impossible to clench a burning hot pipe. And if your releasing too much smoke why it'll burn your eyes too. Clenching forces you to slow down, and teaches you to nurse a smouldering ember. And that's where the flavor is at. It's also where safe piping begins. After your comfortable clenching then its easy to go to hand holding, because you've adapted yourself already to the proper slow cadence of smoking.
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