Just How Dry Should It Be?

[ThermionicScott]

What tobacco are you smoking?
Dry time is 100% related to the blend and cut.

It was mostly Virginia/VaPer blends that did it, although I think I zapped myself with a couple of English blends, too! At the time, I thought pipe tobacco would be ruined if allowed to dry out, so I was smoking McClelland and Samuel Gawith Virginias straight out of the tin, sucking hard on every relight, with my tongue right in the path of all that steam... I've learned a few things.

 

[coys]

There are many factors here!

Some tobaccos just seem wetter from the tin and need more drying time. Some tobaccos smoke well at moderate moisture levels and some just need to be fairly dry. Some of them seem to taste better when moderately dry. Some even say that certain tobaccos taste their best when very dry.

But one thing the folks here helped me understand is that relights are normal and don't mean you are doing anything wrong. It's true that a codger blend might practically smoke itself and hardly need a relight, but relights are pretty normal most of the time. Being patient and not lighting constantly is good as well as that can be counterproductive to getting a decent smoke.

 

[camaguey]

You guys have been really helpful. Thanks. I know relights are par for the course but it was getting to the point of being a little annoying. Drying things further than I thought I should before hearing all this has helped a lot.

I also suspect constant relights were irritating my throat. Im experiencing less of this now. It wasnt a wet smoke becuse i use meer chips or a filter. I think it was consantly sucking at a hot pipe when lighting.

If you want to avoid relights , tamp with an edge shaped tamper on the periphery. In that way the oxygen would keep it lighted.

 

[Pipeh]

The first time I tried 3 nuns (ca. 2020), I opened the tin, smoked it and loved it. Unfortunately, I left it in the tin. A couple weeks later, it had dried and was far less enjoyable. The smoke seemed to be more acrid and harsh. Even after rehydrating it, the mojo was gone. So for me, drying out my tobacco is not something I look forward to.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

"I think it was consantly sucking at a hot pipe when lighting."

Absolutely yes, in my experience lighting the pipe is almost the entire cause of tongue bite, thus I became fond of using a butane torch to start the ember, problem there is it's easy to light the briar as well as the tobacco with one of those.

 

[Wet Dottle]

I never dry the tobacco, but I only smoke tinned blends. Well, almost, because some come in sealed bags, like Esoterica and GH. What I mean to say is that I only smoke tobacco packaged in sealed containers at the origin of manufacture. That's what works for me