Long-Winded Questions About Smoking a Pipe

[Schizo]

Howdy. How's it going?

I came here to see if I can't get some help and info on pipe smoking.
I've been smoking cigars for years now, and have always been curious about pipes.

Recently I took the plunge, and bought a pipe, some tobacco, and a few other things.
...And man, am I struggling.

For starters, here's the pipe I bought:

Missouri Meerschaum Cobbit Dwarf Corncob Pipe

The smallest of the corncob Churchwardens, choose your Missouri Meerschaum Cobbit Dwarf from TobaccoPipes.com where it ships for free!

www.tobaccopipes.com

I also got a tin of Eileen's Dream from there, and a different tobacco from the local shop here.
As well as a lighter, pipe tool, and pipe cleaners.

So now, the basis of my problems--I can't seem to keep the pipe lit. Heck, I can barely get it lit in the first place.
I've watched several videos online for packing and lighting pipes, but still I can't seem to manage it.

I'll pack the pipe, do a charring light (in which only the center of the tobacco seems to light, no matter what I do with the lighter), lightly tamp it down, and light it again.
After I do that, I get next to no smoke from the pipe, and when I do it's very very hot.
I'm not drawing on the pipe very hard, nor am I going overkill with the lighter when lighting it, so I'm not sure why that's happening.

As for packing the pipe, I've tried several different methods from several different videos/sites. All have yielded the same results.

So in short I can barely get the pipe lit to begin with, when I do get it lit I have to puff on it constantly or else it goes out instantly, and the smoke gets very hot.
I'll point out, the smoke gets super hot, but the bowl is barely even getting warm, which seems odd.

Another issue I'm running into is that there's a horrific ashy smell from the bowl. Which is after trying (and failing) to use it just 3 or 4 times.
And that transfers into the taste of the smoke, too. It tastes like licking the inside of a lifetime cigarette smokers lungs...
So I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong there, as well.

I have been cleaning the pipe, though I've not used any sorts of chemicals or anything, if that's suggested.

If you managed to read through all of that and have some advice to give me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Edit:
I will point out, the pipe isn't quite the same as the pictures of it. There's a silver ring around the stem, which is absent in the pictures, but most importantly the stem protrudes into the bowl.
With the stem going into the bowl like it does (goes about 1/2 way in), it makes it pretty hard to clean. Tobacco likes to get pinched and stuck in the corners of the stem, and it's very hard to get them out.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Dry your tobacco a little more than you think it should be. You are using an aromatic, and that's not a bad one to start with, but you might try an English blend to start off with. It has natural flavors and smoking it will come easier, especially till you get the basics down.

That cigarette smoker's lung taste is tobacco. Eventually you'll like it, and crave gnawing on the lungs of dead smokers. I have days where I can't smoke and demand the lungs of dead smokers be brought to me. YMMV

 

[cshubhra]

1. Dry your tobacco much more
2. Experiment with packing. Packing tight is a mistake, packing too loose is also a mistake.
3. Try a briar or a Meerschaum. Cobs have wooden parts inside which char and burn, and the taste is nasty At least that is what put me off Cobs

 

[Schizo]

Dry your tobacco a little more than you think it should be. You are using an aromatic, and that's not a bad one to start with, but you might try an English blend to start off with. It has natural flavors and smoking it will come easier, especially till you get the basics down.

That cigarette smoker's lung taste is tobacco. Eventually you'll like it, and crave gnawing on the lungs of dead smokers. I have days where I can't smoke and demand the lungs of dead smokers be brought to me. YMMV

Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely give that a try and see if it helps things out.
I do enjoy the taste of tobacco though, I've been smoking cigars for a good while, now. The taste I mentioned is a bit different, but probably just a side effect of... something. I dunno.
Unless the tobacco you use for a pipe is just vastly different than that cigars are made with.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Unless the tobacco you use for a pipe is just vastly different than that cigars are made with.

Cigar leaf is fermented or color cured, both the same sort of thing is happening. Red Virginias are color cured and sometimes using the exact same method as cigar leaf. But, the tastes aren't exactly the same. Cigar varieties have a more oily taste to them, and the smoke is even different, heavier, stickier.

Cigarette tobacco is basically the same leaf as pipe tobacco, and the origin of cigarettes came from the invention of French paper and the dawning of the corporate age, where people had less time to smoke, so pipesmokers would twist up a stick out of their pipe tobacco.

 

[Sonorisis]

Sounds like tobacco is too wet and the pipe is packed too tight.

 

[sablebrush52]

Unless the tobacco you use for a pipe is just vastly different than that cigars are made with.

It is. Comes from a different part of the plant.
Dry your tobacco. Most blends are packed with excess water and require drying before smoking.
Experiment with packing. Try keeping the tobacco looser inside the bowl so that you have little to no resistance when drawing air through the pipe. You can adjust your packing and moisture until you find a combo that works for you.
Getting the most out of pipe smoking isn't rocket science, but it does require some practice to get the basics.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Most of those YouTube videos just confused me.. here you will fine the best info. All the packing techniques caused me to pack too tight. These guys say, just put the tobacco in there. Thats my method now, and it finally works.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

As far as packing... I think that the "techniques" are all designed to give you a learned "feel" for how tight to pack. Yeh, I am in the old timer, codger scoop catagory. I don't even think about it any more.

But, to learn how tightly to pack, take a draw off your unlit pipe after packing. If it is like drawing on a straw with no soda in the cup, it's packed too loose. If it is like drawing on a milkshake, it's too tight. If it merely has the slightest resistance, like a soda, then you've hit the perfect consistency.

It takes time, but before long, you'll be just scooping in some tobacco and firing it up with confidence, without all the fretting and techniques just swirling in your head.

 

[briarbuck]

The more experienced I get, the looser I pack the bowl. I pretty much just gravity fill these days with almost no tamp and never have any issues.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The more experienced I get, the looser I pack the bowl. I pretty much just gravity fill these days with almost no tamp and never have any issues.

I like mine so loose that I sometimes smoke for half an hour before I realize there's no tobacco in it. JK

 

[tbradsim1]

In packing the example of feeling the flesh between thumb and finger for different levels of doneness on steak, do it medium rare, you can look it up on goggle.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Like warm glass of water..

 

[mso489]

Good advice in posts above. Play around with it. You'll pack too loose, too tight, tamp too much or too little, but once you start trying different things, you'll pick up the hang of it. You'll be learning one thing and learn several others in the process. Pretty soon, things will come together. Be easy going about this. You aren't receiving a grade.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Sounds like the tobacco is too wet and the packing is wrong. I can't add anything about packing that other members have already said, its a trial and error sort of thing that once you get it, it becomes like an intuition. The Nast taste your getting might be from charring the hardwood plug at the bottom of the pipe, which cobs have. Don't let this turn you off of cobs as they are great additions to any rotation.

 

[Mr.Mike]

In packing the example of feeling the flesh between thumb and finger for different levels of doneness on steak, do it medium rare, you can look it up on goggle.

I was going to suggest the same thing!

 

[danimalia]

Howdy. How's it going?

I came here to see if I can't get some help and info on pipe smoking.
I've been smoking cigars for years now, and have always been curious about pipes.

Recently I took the plunge, and bought a pipe, some tobacco, and a few other things.
...And man, am I struggling.

For starters, here's the pipe I bought:

Missouri Meerschaum Cobbit Dwarf Corncob Pipe

The smallest of the corncob Churchwardens, choose your Missouri Meerschaum Cobbit Dwarf from TobaccoPipes.com where it ships for free!

www.tobaccopipes.com

I also got a tin of Eileen's Dream from there, and a different tobacco from the local shop here.
As well as a lighter, pipe tool, and pipe cleaners.

So now, the basis of my problems--I can't seem to keep the pipe lit. Heck, I can barely get it lit in the first place.
I've watched several videos online for packing and lighting pipes, but still I can't seem to manage it.

I'll pack the pipe, do a charring light (in which only the center of the tobacco seems to light, no matter what I do with the lighter), lightly tamp it down, and light it again.
After I do that, I get next to no smoke from the pipe, and when I do it's very very hot.
I'm not drawing on the pipe very hard, nor am I going overkill with the lighter when lighting it, so I'm not sure why that's happening.

As for packing the pipe, I've tried several different methods from several different videos/sites. All have yielded the same results.

So in short I can barely get the pipe lit to begin with, when I do get it lit I have to puff on it constantly or else it goes out instantly, and the smoke gets very hot.
I'll point out, the smoke gets super hot, but the bowl is barely even getting warm, which seems odd.

Another issue I'm running into is that there's a horrific ashy smell from the bowl. Which is after trying (and failing) to use it just 3 or 4 times.
And that transfers into the taste of the smoke, too. It tastes like licking the inside of a lifetime cigarette smokers lungs...
So I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong there, as well.

I have been cleaning the pipe, though I've not used any sorts of chemicals or anything, if that's suggested.

If you managed to read through all of that and have some advice to give me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely give that a try and see if it helps things out.
I do enjoy the taste of tobacco though, I've been smoking cigars for a good while, now. The taste I mentioned is a bit different, but probably just a side effect of... something. I dunno.
Unless the tobacco you use for a pipe is just vastly different than that cigars are made with.

Edit:
I will point out, the pipe isn't quite the same as the pictures of it. There's a silver ring around the stem, which is absent in the pictures, but most importantly the stem protrudes into the bowl.
With the stem going into the bowl like it does (goes about 1/2 way in), it makes it pretty hard to clean. Tobacco likes to get pinched and stuck in the corners of the stem, and it's very hard to get them out.

The "soda straw" analogy really helped me with packing. I came from cigars as well, and you're just not going to get anywhere near the smoke volume with pipes. Took me a while to get used to.

And the tobaccos used for pipes (and cigarettes for that matter) are different. Tobacco used in cigars is refered to as black tobacco and has been grown and bred for generations specifically for cigars.

The tobaccos used in pipes is basically the same stuff used in cigarettes (with a few exceptions), but may be treated differently (cased, stoved, etc.) or sorted out for higher quality.

 

[anotherbob]

Howdy. How's it going?

I came here to see if I can't get some help and info on pipe smoking.
I've been smoking cigars for years now, and have always been curious about pipes.

Oh doing fine. A little frazzled at the moment but over those humps so pretty alright. So you can't keep a pipe lit. Honestly I think pipes run on magic and that nobody can keep a pipe lit. Honestly they're the cats of the tobacco world. Amazing wonderful creatures but getting to know them is tricky and you get scratched a lot during that process. But eventually you can read a pipe or cats boundries and it's simple. So just keep at it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Honestly I think pipes run on magic and that nobody can keep a pipe lit.

Actually, there is some truth to this, except it's the moment you stop worrying or giving a flip that... ((presto)) ...your pipes will just stay lit, but you won't notice, because it only works for as long as you never think about it. It's like trying to feed a dog that will kill you if you look directly at it.

 

[anotherbob]

Actually, there is some truth to this, except it's the moment you stop worrying or giving a flip that... ((presto)) ...your pipes will just stay lit, but you won't notice, because it only works for as long as you never think about it. It's like trying to feed a dog that will kill you if you look directly at it.

yeah I usually have one relight, and that started happening after flakes beat that care out of me.