Losing Flavor Halfway Through the Bowl

[Grangerous]

What about relights, in the context of this topic?
I know everyone's saying that one shouldn't be shy about relights, but I find myself relighting pretty often, since I'm trying to smoke slowly, which results in pipe going out. And every time I relight, I naturally puff longer and harder, which I think is detrimental for the smoking experience - as pointed out earlier here. Should I be trying to relight less often? or am I just doing it wrong?

See my post just above yours. One additional benefit of alternating two pipes is that the one that is sitting in wait, dries a bit more and when reached for again it almost always lights with ease.

Nothing says you can’t load both pipes with the same blend. You’ll find a pleasant hour that way without frustration.

You can also view this as comparing your pipes to one another. If you pack each the same way and with the same blend, you can identify your best among your collection.

No rules. Make it fun.

On edit: Ziv, I see that you’re in S. Florida. Humidity may be adding to those relights.

I don’t load my pipe with this method because I find it burns hotter, faster and produces more smoke than I like, but try this….

Gravity fill your pipe with small pinches until you’ve reached the top. If it’s ribbon cut, rub it out so that you can drizzle the tobacco in pinches, then press very gently. -You’ll find that once you get that going, you’ll have a shorter smoke but an easier time keeping it lit.

 

[PipeIT]

What about relights, in the context of this topic?
I know everyone's saying that one shouldn't be shy about relights, but I find myself relighting pretty often, since I'm trying to smoke slowly, which results in pipe going out. And every time I relight, I naturally puff longer and harder, which I think is detrimental for the smoking experience - as pointed out earlier here. Should I be trying to relight less often? or am I just doing it wrong?

I personally never keep a pipe lit, I find if I do the tobacco doesn’t taste as good. Most of the blends I smoke are quite complex, and it doesn’t help to always keep them lit.

I look at it like this isn’t a cigar or cigarettes, so keeping it lit is simply a personal preference.

But, if you are smoking complex blends, next time on the first light, barely light it, only enough to take a few slow small sips, and then taste, and see what you come up with for flavors.

Then let the pipe go out and cool down, and then repeat again slowly. Try smoking a pipe like this with your complex blends, only lighting it every so often. And then next time, keep it lit and compare the differences in taste.

You should find, when you barely light as I’ve described, there is more richness and complexity to taste.

To much fire/heat destroy complexity, along with constant non stop puffing…

 

[Christos D. Tsatsaronis]

The "pack lighter, smoke slower" principle answers many questions, solves many problems...

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

@MisterBadger we must maintain some Pipe Decorum, if we are going to mingle in the Posh Gentleman’s Club.

Gentlemen of propriety can’t be flipping their pipes upside down knocking on them. The establishment wouldn’t stand for such crude behavior.

A slightly raised pinky, scraping gently with your pipe tool, is a man of higher pedigree and refinement.

View attachment 350041

Jesus I’m in the wrong club lol

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

The "pack lighter, smoke slower" principle answers many questions, solves many problems...

Agreed, especially with the damper blends. This has always been an issue with me as I tend to smoke my pipes like a freight train lol

 

[FLDRD]

Also another experience altogether when you can leave the stem clenched in your closed mouth and breath through your nose. That one took me a few years....
And for quite some time in my learning curve I was actually relighting when all I needed to do was cover the top of the chamber and carburate the fire to stoke it.
And the Florida humidity must certainly be a factor that you'll deal with inherently.
Perseverance was my greatest ally.

 

[minerLuke]

Since you're a fellow dipper and no stranger to nicotine, you may find it helpful to practice your cadence with a nice strong pipe blend such as Irish Flake, Royal Yacht, Gawith 1792 Flake, Old Joe Krantz etc. The strong flavor and healthy nic dose can help to force you to sip it slower and mellow things out.

 

[samuelgawith01]

Been pipe smoking about a year now. Here of late, I’ve noticed that, once I get halfway or a little past that, the tobacco turns bland. English, Virginias, Periques, pretty much any non-aromatics taste the same to me for about that last third or so. Is it something I’m doing? I generally ash two or three times per bowl, if that makes any difference.

I don't dump the ash.I just push it down a little maybe 2-3 separate times during my smoke,including after the false light.It's my opinion that the ash acts as a buffer.Just tamp the ash if it needs it,and don't drive the entire pipeload down.Hope this helps.

 

[ParkitoATL]

For me, clenching usually leads to heat. If I can keep the pipe in my hand, rather than in my mouth, I generally smoke slower. Kind of like setting your beer down between sips.

Also, I don't obsess with getting the entire bowl burning. Especially with flakes, I will often get a small tunnel burning within the bowl and keep nursing that until it goes out, then give it a gentle relight. This works very well for me to keep it cool.

Finally, switch up your pipes and blends and make notes when you have a pipe & blend match that really works well together. The other night I rubbed out a bunch of St. James Flake and smoked a fabulous bowl in my Peterson 303. The next bowl in a small Meer wasn't nearly as good; I couldn't believe it was the same blend. So try your blends in many different pipes, you may be surprised at the difference.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Been pipe smoking about a year now. Here of late, I’ve noticed that, once I get halfway or a little past that, the tobacco turns bland. English, Virginias, Periques, pretty much any non-aromatics taste the same to me for about that last third or so. Is it something I’m doing? I generally ash two or three times per bowl, if that makes any difference.

That was my experience for many more years than I'd like to admit. Whenever I'd see reviews raving about amazing flavors in the last third of a bowl, my reactions ranged from jealousy to disbelief. It turns out that it's depressingly easy to overcook the flavor out of the remainder of a bowl, so as you learn to slow down, you'll extend that "flavor window" later and later. As an outdoor smoker, I have to manage my expectations, and enjoy whatever flavors I can get when there's a wind.

 

[98now]

I’m wondering if some of it is due to the breathe method. I do that about half the time, and I wonder if it’s a product of the overheat and dampness in the bowl. Hard to describe the taste, but it’s a bland, almost damp taste, to the extent you can taste dampness. None of this would make any sense to a non-pipe smoker.