I’m sure there are many other posts on this subject, but I will offer some information, probably repeating much of what already has been said here or elsewhere.
Relights are a fact of life with pipe smokers. How many per smoke? Fewer relights come only with experience. And there are too many variables. Among them:
The moisture level and cut of the tobacco - it should not be too wet or too dry. Ideally, it should be ‘springy’ and ‘spring back’ when pinched – not possible with all cuts, i.e. cube cut, plug. Some cuts are simply best gravity filled in a pipe.
Relights will be less once a pipe has been broken in and has formed a cake.
Relights will be more frequent towards the bottom of the bowl if moisture collects there, especially true of new / newer pipes. As such, don’t hesitate to run a pipe cleaner through a pipe during a smoke as many times as you feel necessary.
The shape of the pipe also comes into play. Pipes having smaller diameter smoking chambers and deeper bowls will generally require more relights, again towards the bottom of the bowl. One of my favorite shaped pipes is the lowly and much maligned POT. The reason? Pots have larger diameter and shallow bowls. This ever so practical shape, by design, requires fewer relights as it gets more oxygen to feed the fire and doesn’t have to go as far down in the bowl. I will only add that, IMO, a pot must have a 1” bore to be termed a pot. Anything less than a 1” bore and it’s a saucepan.
Whatever method you use, don’t over pack a pipe, except near the top. Pack it ‘more loosely’ rather than ‘more tightly.’ It should have the same draw as a straw, i.e., a modicum of resistance. As Russ Oullette notes at his web site, “…..there are two principles that are vital for any method to work, “The tobacco at the bottom of the bowl has to allow for free airflow; and, 2.) The tobacco at the top has to be packed firmly enough to stay lit.”
And when you light the pipe, LIGHT IT! Ensure you light all of the tobacco. Tamp it down lightly after the false or charring light. For some blends, you might even need two or three charring lights and some light tamps. Regardless of the shape of the pipe, when lighting, hold the pipe with the bowl rim perfectly horizontal to the floor. This will prevent charring of the bowl rim in the area directly above the shank.
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Try smoking Prince Albert or Carter Hall in a MM corn cob pipe. I swear these blends have an accelerant in them. I’ve laid a cob down many times with these blends and come back 15 minutes later to find the pipe was still going.
Smoking a bowl of tobacco to its completion without a relight should not be the goal of any pipe smoker, except for those who enter pipe smoking contests. Those who accomplish this on a regular basis are either very skilled or, as I suspect, are working too hard at pipe smoking, “thinking” too much and perhaps smoking too fast rather than deriving simple pleasure from the pipe. Personally, I welcome relights. If my tobacco burns out during a smoke, I tamp the tobacco down, run it through with a pipe cleaner, place the pipe on a pipe rest and wait about five minutes until it cools a bit, then relight it. Some of the most pleasurable puffs I get from a bowl of tobacco are on the first few puffs of a “cooled pipe” that needs a relight, especially towards the middle and bottom of the bowl. This is what I call “Very Short DGT.”
On the other hand, one little tip that does work in keeping a pipe lit is the “bellows method” that is akin to the bellows that blacksmiths used to keep their fires going. Other pipe smokers most commonly call this method ‘breath smoking.’ I prefer the former as I believe it provides a better picture of the method.
During the course of a smoke, and every now and then, , simply blow / breath LIGHTLY down the stem into the bowl then draw on the tobacco as you would usually do. Repeat this “out (blow lightly) – in (draw lightly) procedure occasionally as you smoke and you will avoid some relights. Some seasoned pipe smokers do this unconsciously, especially those smokers who like the nasal aroma of burning tobacco as the “bellows method” or ‘breath method’ is an effective way to get that “extra dose” of nasal (tobacco) aroma.
Smoking a pipe is one of life’s little pleasures to those of us here, not a job in trying to keep a pipe lit.
A cigarette is to be smoked. A cigar is to be enjoyed. A pipe is to be savored.
