Last Third of the Bowl

[mso489]

This is probably dead obvious to most experienced pipe smokers, but just to mention it: To get some

use out of the last third of the bowl, loosen up the white ash on the top before you re-light and dump

it in the ashtray, then burrow down into the unburnt leaf at the bottom of the bowl so there is some

air in there, and tamp it gently so it is not too tightly packed, and re-light. Often you can get good

flavor from the rest of the bowl and economize a little on tobacco. If it doesn't taste good, just dump

it too, but often it will be just fine and leave you with little if any dottle. This works most effectively

with larger bowl pipes.

 

[zitotczito]

I have been using my pipe tool pick, just poke it through the middle and works well for me.

 

[beezer]

Agreed. I do the same with nearly every bowl.

 

[mcitinner1]

@ Mso, I do what your saying all the time guy, but most of the time what's left tastes too bad to finish it and it's dump city. I waste a disappointing amount of tobacco and I wonder if I'm causing it by smoking faster than I should. I'm always doubting anyone who says they usually smoke to the bottom of the bowl. I just need to keep trying to go slower I guess. (that's what she said)(sometimes) :mrgreen:

 

[tallguy]

Without knowing it was a good practice, that's what I did yesterday. I got a good pipe smoke for another 10 minutes. There was very little tobacco left in the bowl.

 

[fishnbanjo]

I have some pipe/tobacco combinations that need this, some that smoke right down to ash and others I won't even try to smoke the last third because it quite frankly tastes awful. I have worked to remedy the last and the other two are real easy to live with and what makes this such a fun hobby that you're always learning. :D

banjo

 

[mso489]

Agreed, agreed, absolutely never smoke any tobacco that tastes bad, or you know from experience will taste bad.

Get rid of it and start over. This method is just a way to give unburned tobacco a chance, when it's still good.

 

[fmgee]

Mso I am glad you posted this as I have been doing it and wondering if I have been breaking the rules. I just know that I have trouble getting it lit if I do not loosen it up a little.

 

[groovesmith75]

I've found that if i use the pipe tool and poke down the center it tends to block the air flow. what i do that has helped a lot is to loosen up the tobacco around the edges and lightly move it to the center. then relight has done wonders and can smoke it almost all the way to the bottom doing this.

 

[bphilli75]

Thanks for the tips! I sometimes like to let it sit a bit and dry out also.

 

[natenice1]

Tom thanks, I've been doing that for years and never thought to mention it. I've even got a little better smoke out of it at times!

 

[mrdenmark]

As a rookie in the art of smoking I must say I'm really glad to get this kind of "nice to know" information. I always empty the bowl and throw away the left over tobacco. It really annoyed me to waste tobacco like that. From now on I won't waste the tobacco. Thank you very much MSO

 

[phred]

Interesting - I still do this if I find I've packed too tightly or overdone the tamping, but since I started consciously working on "breath smoking", I've often found myself at the bottom of the bowl with mostly ash and a little bit of dottle. On today's lunchtime smoke, I overdid it a little as I'm trying to finish off a sample that seems to keep regenerating in the jar - it's tasty stuff, but I'm trying to clear some space so that i can justify a TAD attack. The pipe was going out more often than usual, and at the end, it simply wouldn't stay lit, even though it was obvious to me that there was still some unsmoked tobacco under the ash, so I stopped at a smoker's bench (my workplace still has several), knocked off the top layer of ash, stirred up the dottle, tamped, and then relaxed for about 10 minutes with the last of the pipe. Worked like a charm!

 

[macabra11]

This entire thread makes me feel better about my experiences with the bottom third of the bowl. I thought maybe I was an anomaly!