Learned a Couple of Techniques today. What are some of yours?

[Sweet Home Alabama]

In addition to some of the things mentioned above, these things works for me:

Delayed gratification technique: smoke a little, enjoy, set the pipe down, go do something else, come back to it when you like. (This works especially well with high nicotine or otherwise demanding tobaccos).

Try using your finger as a tamper. There is, admittedly, a chance of a slight burn now and then, as well as a dirty fingertip, but it's convenient and simple and often seems to work better than a true tamper in ways that are hard to explain.

I sometimes smoke while doing some chore, but I have found the smoke is best when I do nothing except "zone out" and look at the sky and listen to the birds, as Mr. Jeremiah suggests above.

And at the same time (this may seem a contradiction), some "mindfulness" does make the smoke better. I set down the phone. I try to stop thinking about whatever it was I was thinking about. And I try to appreciate the moment--the smoke-but without trying to analyze it. A balance.

You explained much better than me. ???

 

[Talon]

Some great ones here. Thanks alot everyone!

 

[SBC]

I draw on the pipe by inhaling from my nose with my mouth closed. Unlike the breath method I let the smoke out of an open mouth, otherwise I hardly taste the tobacco. This is how I learned to have a cool smoke.

Drawing by inhaling through the nose while the pipe is sealed in the lips is what I do, as well, although I'd never heard anybody else articulate it. The air moving through the nasal passage creates a very small vacuum in the mouth (much smaller than is creating by directly drawing with the shape of the mouth). It does two things: it keeps the draw very moderate, and it also mixes the draw with lots of "fresh air" from the nose, creating a lighter smoke to air ratio which is then less prickly when retrohaled.

(Which would be my difference with SmokeRIngs79 -- I do retrohale for best flavor after drawing with this technique.)

I should add that I am not locked into this. For instance, if the tobacco seems to be going out, I'll give it some more direct draws to get it stoked again. And some tobaccos are just hard to keep lit and you must draw them directly to keep them from going out.

 

[SBC]

Learn to stuff it so the draw is right, light and enjoy. Or, you can make the experience as complicated as you wish. It's all about the smoker enjoying the bowl. No hard and fast rules other than flame must be involvred, tobacco and of course, the tool (the pipe). A lot of pipe smokers deny the nic hit but, that's why we smoke. Some don't even notice the nicotine but, everyone's brain does. So, try what you think appears to be logical until yo've developed your style.

Sincerely curious and open-minded, Warren:
You believe that we all enjoy the nicotine, even if we're not conscious of it?

I'm one of those guys who's rarely conscious of the nicotine.

If I'm sitting a super potent blend while sitting, then of course I'll feel that rush when I stand. But I've never thought of that as a pleasurable feeling, like a little cheer from alcohol.

But you think that I'm relaxed by it, or enjoying it, subconsciously?

You may very well be correct. It's just a new thought to me. I guess that I wouldn't know.

 

[SBC]

If I'm sitting a super potent blend while sitting

Typo: If I'm *sipping* a super potent blend while sitting...

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

Sincerely curious and open-minded, Warren:
You believe that we all enjoy the nicotine, even if we're not conscious of it?

I'm one of those guys who's rarely conscious of the nicotine.

If I'm sitting a super potent blend while sitting, then of course I'll feel that rush when I stand. But I've never thought of that as a pleasurable feeling, like a little cheer from alcohol.

But you think that I'm relaxed by it, or enjoying it, subconsciously?

You may very well be correct. It's just a new thought to me. I guess that I wouldn't know.

I get pleasure from the flavour and aroma of tobacco, of course I do. I love it.
but for me, nicotine is the be all and end all of why I smoke.

 

[Talon]

I guess the powers of Nicotine are deceptive but I'm honestly not quite sure that it is nicotine that draws me to smoking a pipe. I can go a few days and never think twice about it. Back when I smoked cigarettes the thought of that made me lose my mind! Nicotine could be a sort of reward system for the brain but I truly think it's the feeling as if I'm going back in time to a simpler way of life and a simpler rhythm. The smell of the tobacco and the act of smoking itself I find very pleasurable..

 

[PipeIT]

Never tried it.Perhaps I will.I know saliva removes carbon deposits from the rim,however. Thanks,Sable.

Me too, woo sounds nice, going to do this next, I don’t like charring the rims of my fancy pipes, I need shiny toys! LOL ?

 

[samuelgawith01]

MacBaren HH Rustica in this clay.