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

[Law]

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!

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

How caked up are the chambers?

 

[mikethompson]

Sounds like a familiar story. Here are some of my observations;

1) you may be over thinking the process. If you are thinking about if you dried long enough, and your packing, and your lighting, and your breathing that will add up to a frustrating session.

2) you didn't mention if you were just starting out with the pipe. Could it be possible you just have tongue fatigue? Put everything aside for a few days and see what happens.

 

[Law]

How caked up are the chambers?

my savinelli doesn’t have much cake or barely is devoloped, but the Peterson has a decent cake.

 

[Law]

Sounds like a familiar story. Here are some of my observations;

1) you may be over thinking the process. If you are thinking about if you dried long enough, and your packing, and your lighting, and your breathing that will add up to a frustrating session.

2) you didn't mention if you were just starting out with the pipe. Could it be possible you just have tongue fatigue? Put everything aside for a few days and see what happens.

Currently doing your second suggestion. I’ll give it a couple of days break, but about the frustration I mean i honeslty only get 15-25mins max. is that a problem? I don’t feel like I am satisfied with the duration of the bowl. That frustrates me, and everything else really.

 

[mikethompson]

Frustration has no place with me when I'm enjoying a pipe.

 

[greeneyes]

I always recommend going to a pipe club, or a pipe smoking tobacconist, for help with these problems. Divining the problem takes lots of guesswork and excellent communication when the problem could be the slightest detail. Actually seeing you prepare, pack, light and puff your tobacco and pipe would be helpful.

My guess is it's your packing technique and puffing cadence. But that's a guess. What's almost certain is that it isn't the pipe.

 

[Old School 3319]

Is there a reason your pipe has to last that long. Do you enjoy the smoke up to the point it goes bad? If so get what you get and enjoy

 

[Law]

I always recommend going to a pipe club, or a pipe smoking tobacconist, for help with these problems. Divining the problem takes lots of guesswork and excellent communication when the problem could be the slightest detail. Actually seeing you prepare, pack, light and puff your tobacco and pipe would be helpful.

My guess is it's your packing technique and puffing cadence. But that's a guess. What's almost certain is that it isn't the pipe.

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?

 

[tschiraldi]

Lighting should not affect how long your smoke lasts. The only variables there are amount of tobacco in the pipe, how hard and how long you draw. I suspect you are puffing too much instead of taking small sips. This would account for the ashy taste halfway through, the large amount of visible smoke, and the short length of your smoke. Is the pipe getting hot to the touch? That would be a dead give away!

 

[Law]

Is there a reason your pipe has to last that long. Do you enjoy the smoke up to the point it goes bad? If so get what you get and enjoy

I do. Sometimes I do think about getting as much as I can from the bowl that i am smoking. Or if I am doing something wrong.

 

[Law]

Lighting should not affect how long your smoke lasts. The only variables there are amount of tobacco in the pipe, how hard and how long you draw. I suspect you are puffing too much instead of taking small sips. This would account for the ashy taste halfway through, the large amount of visible smoke, and the short length of your smoke. Is the pipe getting hot to the touch? That would be a dead give away!

The thing is, maybe you are right in the categories above. I’ll really check upon my drawing and puffing technique. but my bowls are not even slighlty warm. Most of the time they are just the same tempreture as I packed them. barely any heat. Can you please explain the sipping part? I sometimes sip too little intentionally, but i don’t seem to get any flavor. Ill try to find the balance between those things.

 

[greeneyes]

Maybe a quick tutorial via Zoom?

 

[tschiraldi]

You want to draw just enough to keep the pipe lit. If you puff too hard, you increase the heat inside the bowl, and too much heat destroys flavor. If your pipe has thick chamber walls, you may not notice the heat on the outside of the bowl. If you want more flavor, try retrohaling.

 

[Law]

You want to draw just enough to keep the pipe lit. If you puff too hard, you increase the heat inside the bowl, and too much heat destroys flavor. If your pipe has thick chamber walls, you may not notice the heat on the outside of the bowl. If you want more flavor, try retrohaling.

I’ll keep that in mind. Never thought about puffing just to keep it lit.. let me try and see if it works.

 

[Law]

Maybe a quick tutorial via Zoom?

That is too nice of you. I’ll message you privately.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

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.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

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.

 

[Old School 3319]

Is there a reason your pipe has to last that long. Do you enjoy the smoke up to the point it goes bad? If so get what you get and enjoy

I do. Sometimes I do think about getting as much as I can from the bowl that i am smoking. Or if I am doing something wrong.

When i first started I was greedy and wanted to smoke all the way down and pack as much as i could in a bowl and i learned that its about quality not quantity or time

 

[bullet08]

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