Lighting Problems: Short Smokes and Ashy Bowls. Please Help!

[Law]

I have NEVER finished a bowl of any size in under 45 minutes, and I was smoking way to fast even then. And, for those that have seen my collection of pipes over the years know that I have some itty bitty pipes and some huge pipes. 25 minutes is just the charring light on some of my pipes.

Think thin wisps of smoke. I grew up around pipe smokers. And, cigarette smokers always seemed like steam engines of smoke by comparisons. My rule of thumb for myself is that if I can actually see smoke, I am probably going too fast.

As too the pipe tasting more ashy... I'm not familiar with this. A great tobacco does shift in flavors as you smoke it, and most do get lighter in flavor as the bowl progresses. Especially Virginias, you lose some of the harshness and it starts getting more of a stoved flavor most of the time, pending the blend. Usually I can tell when I am at the bottom of the bowl when I do taste ash, but it definitely the taste of ash, and not some other flavor mixed in with the smoke.

We do hear a lot from new smokers that so and so blend tastes like cigarettes or ashtrays to them... but I wonder if this is because of a lack of developed perception to the flavors of tobacco and smoke. Not having the vocabulary yet to discern flavors. I mean cigarettes are made of tobacco and some blenders (Russ and Brian Levine have discussed this on the radioshow) will roll a new tobacco up into a cigarette to sample the flavors of a tobacco before blending with a complete unknown tobacco. And, as most smokers know, Camels taste completely different from a Winston, etc etc... So, what does a cigarette taste like?

Anyways, even the best of us have to keep in mind to keep slowing down, further and further. Smoke it on the verge of it going out. This is the range where flavors become more pure and full. And, maybe read through reviews by jiminks. Strive to find his vocabulary in the flavors you are sensing.

Stick with it. This is all a part of the fun. And, I hope something I have said helps.

First I sure do and will take your advice. A couple of people have informed about the sipping part of pipe smoking. And you are telling me that you try to not even see the smoke! I do see your point. Can you clarify, how do you usually taste the flavors? Other than retrohaling, is there a way such as accumalating the smoke? I use the breath method and it works great, but does it work with sipping the smoke? I just am curious if there is a personal technic that I can learn, or at least try and see if it suits me.

As of cigarettes, I totally agree with your point. Some cigarettes don’t taste the same as others! I am not a cigarrete smoker, but I know people will favor some cigarettes than others. And they will even tell you exactly why. I believe all unexperienced smokers, will have no reference point to go back to. all they taste is some tobacco, and some air. And that is if they even try to smoke a pipe correctly. It is just another point, but I understand what you mean.

as of jiminks, I definitely follow up with his reviews. I’ll for sure take your advice on this.

 

[Law]

Try packing tighter I don't think I could of fast enough to Brien a bowl of Virginia in 25 minutes. Maybe something like Semois I could. And if I tried, my tongue would be fired.

Check to make sure your watch isn't broken.

I tried packing it tighter, I actually found it to help! I jammed it a little harsher. I guess it is all a personal “thing” with pipe smoking. Even the 3 pack method needs altering for it to work to each person. Hey, I got an extra 10 minutes out of it! This time I counted it with my fingers, so far no contradictions with my clock

 

[Law]

Do you tamp? By half a bowl, there should be good layer of ashes. You can "chase the ember" to see if that helps.

I do, but it seems to lose much flavor. And tastes ashy. I’ve taken a couple of advices from the above comments, i’ll see what I can do with them.

 

[stokesdale]

Hello fellow pipe smokers!

I have been experiencing a very weird time in my pipe smoking journey. I’ll explain.

First, my pipe bowls last around 15-25 mins MAX. My usual pipes are savinelli author 320 ks and Peterson standard system 302 pipe. From what I know, and remember. They last me around 45 mins to an hour. Lately, those pipes barely last me 25 mins. I have other pipes, such as my savinelli pocket pipe, and it last me around 15-20 mins MAX. Im getting more frustrated as I started thinking maybe I'm scorching my tobacco with a zippo lighter, so I changed to bics. No change. To lighter... nothing.

I started wondering about my lightning technique, and I’ve seen all the videos on youtube again. I Revisted every channel and even forums here on pipemagazine, with no luck. My tobacco is dry. My packing technique is decent enough. I utilize the breath method. Slow and steady puffs and very flavorful first half of the bowl. And I even started to use matches.

side not: halfway through a normal bowl, it starts to taste very ashy and with no flavor. Mind you I am smoking Virginas, English blends and VApers. No aromatics. What is going on? Im starting to waste alot of tobacco, and i started smoking nearly 7-8 bowls each day since each one barely lasts me 20 mins. Im getting frustrated and I really did everything without luck. Any aid? Is there a any suggestion? I’ll gladly take all!

Welcome to pipe smoking--nothing stays constant. Sounds to me like you are becoming a puffer instead of a sipper...my bowls only last about 20 to 25 minutes as well...I'm a puffer.

 

[Law]

Welcome to pipe smoking. Sounds to me like you are becoming a puffer instead of a sipper...my bowls only last about 20 to 25 minutes as well...I'm a puffer.

Why don’t you sip? Let me see if I am cut from the same breed

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Can you clarify, how do you usually taste the flavors? Other than retrohaling, is there a way such as accumalating the smoke? I use the breath method and it works great, but does it work with sipping the smoke? I just am curious if there is a personal technic that I can learn, or at least try and see if it suits me.

90% of the time, I am smoking while doing other things, which means that I keep a pipe constantly lit and ignored going most of my day. But, when I want to give a blend my absolute attention to get the best idea of what it tastes like, I will just roll it around in my mouth... I remember Paul Creasy on the radioshow calling this "chewing the smoke."
But, before I could taste anything, I had to have a moment of clarity, when all of a sudden I could taste something besides just smoke. For me it was twice... the first time I actually tasted something in the smoke was when I was smoking Red Cake 5100. I had been smoking this for a few weeks, and it was like one moment it was just smoke, then the next I was tasting baked bread, roasted nuts, cinnamon spice, and all sorts of other flavors. The second was when I was smoking Captain Black, ha ha... I know, crazy right? Taste an aromatic? ha ha. But, I could taste the sugars, rum, and vanilla.

This came to me a few years after smoking my pipes diligently. For some, I hope that they have this sort of moment sooner than I did. But, up until then I was still enjoying the experience. Sometimes these moment just sneak up on us for no reason.
Try getting your mind off of tasting, then try focusing your attentions. I liken it to those silly Magic Eye posters they used to sell in the Malls. You look at the splotches of colors, focus, unfocus, till wam! you see a dinosaur playing poker, ha ha. It is somewhere between paying attention and ignoring it.

I hope that you are otherwise enjoying your smoking experience. It will come when you are ready for it.

 

[stokesdale]

Why don’t you sip? Let me see if I am cut from the same breed

Because I like to actually know I have smoke in my mouth, and I sometimes inhale through my nose, hard to do with a small amount of smoke.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Because I like to actually know I have smoke in my mouth, and I sometimes inhale through my nose, hard to do with a small amount of smoke.

We all have our own reasons for smoking pipes. I think it's healthy to have some folks smoking for different reasons. It sounds like you enjoy the aesthetics of just the smoke as a "feel" thing. That's cool. We all have to find what we enjoy the most in this hobby.

 

[stokesdale]

We all have our own reasons for smoking pipes. I think it's healthy to have some folks smoking for different reasons. It sounds like you enjoy the aesthetics of just the smoke as a "feel" thing. That's cool. We all have to find what we enjoy the most in this hobby.

Jesus you're grumpy today...there is not one thing in what I said that was knocking anyone's smoking style. Cheer up, it's sunny outside!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Jesus you're grumpy today...there is not one thing in what I said that was knocking anyone's smoking style. Cheer up, it's sunny outside!

I wasn't disagreeing with you at all. In fact, I was literally saying that I thought that your post was awesome.

 

[stokesdale]

I wasn't disagreeing with you at all. In fact, I was literally saying that I thought that your post was awesome.

Jesus stokesdale is grumpy today...cheer up, its sunny outside

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Jesus stokesdale is grumpy today...cheer up, its sunny outside

Ha ha, too funny. No, when I disagree with someone or get grumpy, I get way more colorful with my words... but in rereading my post, it could have come across as ambivalent. I should have just said "Good shit right there, man," ha ha.

 

[Law]

90% of the time, I am smoking while doing other things, which means that I keep a pipe constantly lit and ignored going most of my day. But, when I want to give a blend my absolute attention to get the best idea of what it tastes like, I will just roll it around in my mouth... I remember Paul Creasy on the radioshow calling this "chewing the smoke."
But, before I could taste anything, I had to have a moment of clarity, when all of a sudden I could taste something besides just smoke. For me it was twice... the first time I actually tasted something in the smoke was when I was smoking Red Cake 5100. I had been smoking this for a few weeks, and it was like one moment it was just smoke, then the next I was tasting baked bread, roasted nuts, cinnamon spice, and all sorts of other flavors. The second was when I was smoking Captain Black, ha ha... I know, crazy right? Taste an aromatic? ha ha. But, I could taste the sugars, rum, and vanilla.

This came to me a few years after smoking my pipes diligently. For some, I hope that they have this sort of moment sooner than I did. But, up until then I was still enjoying the experience. Sometimes these moment just sneak up on us for no reason.
Try getting your mind off of tasting, then try focusing your attentions. I liken it to those silly Magic Eye posters they used to sell in the Malls. You look at the splotches of colors, focus, unfocus, till wam! you see a dinosaur playing poker, ha ha. It is somewhere between paying attention and ignoring it.

I hope that you are otherwise enjoying your smoking experience. It will come when you are ready for it.

This is such an interesting read for me. Well upon reading this i stumbled upon the fact that it took you a while to taste the flavors of the tobacco you where smoking. For me, I really enjoy tasting the tobacco, and I realized I am a puffer more than a sipper. Sipping gives me more of an aroma in my mouth of the tobacco than a “mouthful Taste”. Do sipper have the glories of puffers? Is there a fine line where puffing meet sippers and its all sunshine and rainbows?

 

[stokesdale]

This is such an interesting read for me. Well upon reading this i stumbled upon the fact that it took you a while to taste the flavors of the tobacco you where smoking. For me, I really enjoy tasting the tobacco, and I realized I am a puffer more than a sipper. Sipping gives me more of an aroma in my mouth of the tobacco than a “mouthful Taste”. Do sipper have the glories of puffers? Is there a fine line where puffing meet sippers and its all sunshine and rainbows?

The best advice I can give you is to not worry about it. You've obviously gotten into a groove, just enjoy it. So you go through bowls twice as quickly as you used to, who cares, enjoy it.

 

[Law]

Because I like to actually know I have smoke in my mouth, and I sometimes inhale through my nose, hard to do with a small amount of smoke.

Well, I’m either doomed for short heavenly smokes or prolonged meditative pondering. Or just get one of those Mr Brog lumberjack pipes...

 

[Law]

The best advice I can give you is to not worry about it. You've obviously gotten into a groove, just enjoy it. So you go through bowls twice as quickly as you used to, who cares, enjoy it.

i’ll sure take that. Maybe I just enjoy it twice as much now

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This is such an interesting read for me. Well upon reading this i stumbled upon the fact that it took you a while to taste the flavors of the tobacco you where smoking. For me, I really enjoy tasting the tobacco, and I realized I am a puffer more than a sipper. Sipping gives me more of an aroma in my mouth of the tobacco than a “mouthful Taste”. Do sipper have the glories of puffers? Is there a fine line where puffing meet sippers and its all sunshine and rainbows?

Ha ha, there is no clear cut line that we dogmatically stick to. When someone comes up to me while I am smoking and doing something with my hands, the puffs of smoke should alert them that they are bothering me, ha ha.

There are a few blends that give me such nice smoke feel, that I will smoke them more for mouth feel than taste. Most cigar blends have such a wonderful heavy and oily smoke that I just can't help but smoke them a little faster.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

I have NEVER finished a bowl of any size in under 45 minutes, and I was smoking way to fast even then. And, for those that have seen my collection of pipes over the years know that I have some itty bitty pipes and some huge pipes. 25 minutes is just the charring light on some of my pipes.

Think thin wisps of smoke. I grew up around pipe smokers. And, cigarette smokers always seemed like steam engines of smoke by comparisons. My rule of thumb for myself is that if I can actually see smoke, I am probably going too fast.

As too the pipe tasting more ashy... I'm not familiar with this. A great tobacco does shift in flavors as you smoke it, and most do get lighter in flavor as the bowl progresses. Especially Virginias, you lose some of the harshness and it starts getting more of a stoved flavor most of the time, pending the blend. Usually I can tell when I am at the bottom of the bowl when I do taste ash, but it definitely the taste of ash, and not some other flavor mixed in with the smoke.

We do hear a lot from new smokers that so and so blend tastes like cigarettes or ashtrays to them... but I wonder if this is because of a lack of developed perception to the flavors of tobacco and smoke. Not having the vocabulary yet to discern flavors. I mean cigarettes are made of tobacco and some blenders (Russ and Brian Levine have discussed this on the radioshow) will roll a new tobacco up into a cigarette to sample the flavors of a tobacco before blending with a complete unknown tobacco. And, as most smokers know, Camels taste completely different from a Winston, etc etc... So, what does a cigarette taste like?

Anyways, even the best of us have to keep in mind to keep slowing down, further and further. Smoke it on the verge of it going out. This is the range where flavors become more pure and full. And, maybe read through reviews by jiminks. Strive to find his vocabulary in the flavors you are sensing.

Stick with it. This is all a part of the fun. And, I hope something I have said helps.

Burleys tasted ashy to me early on, but now I do not get that anymore.

 

[sablebrush52]

I’d love to go to a pipe club or a pipe tobacconist, but they are nowhere to be found here.

I’ll keep seeking what I can find in the internet. Again, this is a recent problem. didn’t really have that problem previously. I’ll keep checking my technique, and i’ll for sure check my puffing candance.

a small question, I do sometimes see people lighting their pipe bowls without much smoke being produced. And they could still puff normally. My pipe bowl seems to be sort of a campfire. with some smoke that won’t go out on its own until i give it a nearly 2 min rest. Sometimes i feel like there is an excessive burn on my bowl that burns the tobacco too fast. Is that normal? Am I overthinking this?

If you're looking to get billows of smoke during your lighting up and you think you're overdoing it, you're probably overdoing it. Use enough flame to get an allover char going with a few puffs, then gently sip the smoke.

Full sized bowls being smoked in 15 to 25 minutes fairly screams puffing too fast and too hard. Usually, an ashy taste is significant of the bowl being smoked to hard and too hot. Slow down. Don't worry about keeping the bowl lit. If it goes out, relight. There are no gold stars or merit badges rewarded for smoking a chamber load to the bottom with one light. Generally, slow smoking provides better flavors. You want the tobacco to barely simmer.

After enjoying pipes for the better part of 49 years, there are a few things that I've found have served me well, such a getting the tobacco to a proper moisture level before packing. Most tobacco is too moist for smoking straight from the tin.

If you're smoking Virginias, Va/Pers, etc, just shy of bone dry is the sweet spot. That's dry and crispy at the edges, no sense of cool moisture in the tobacco against your skin when you squeeze it, but still pliant, not crumbly.

With English blends a little more moisture isn't going to cause a problem, though again, too much moisture and flavors will be muted and you'll have a soggy smoke. English are the easiest to smoke with their robust flavors, and most forgiving of poor to middling technique.

Aros do better with some dry time, but not the bone dry level of dry time as it can cause some loss of the topping's flavor.

Don't get too caught up on "methods". They're OK, as far as they go, but unnecessary. People enjoyed their pipes for centuries without "methods". "Methods" are an option, not an essential. Experiment and find your own personal method.

YouTube videos are not exempt from Sturgeon's Law, which is, "90% of everything is crap." Choose your advice carefully. I am heartened that there now exist some not horribly ignorant YouTube pipesmoking videos. There are even a few that are pretty good.

The suggestion that you lay off and give your mouth and tongue a break is gold. Smoking a pipe is supposed be a relaxing activity. If it isn't then it's time to take a break. An enjoyable smoke while feeling frustrated, well that isn't going to happen.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I do, but it seems to lose much flavor. And tastes ashy. I’ve taken a couple of advices from the above comments, i’ll see what I can do with them.

If it is tasting ashy, you're puffing too hard. The tobacco is getting too hot and tasting bad. Slow down by 50%.