Moisture in the Bottom of the Bowl

[missy]

I lose the bottom 1/4 bowl of pipe tobacco to moisture. The tobacco will not burn in the bottom of the bowl because it gets wet. Is this a normal occurance? Is there anything I can do about it?

 

[missy]

Thanks for the input! I was smoking an aromatic I bought from the tobacco shop. Altadis black cherry It is very possible that I am smoking too fast-I will work on that!

And thanks for the suggestion to leave a bowl out for a while-I will try that too! :D

 

[matchstickman]

As far as drying tobacco, if you want to hurry the process a little you can spread the tobacco on a piece of paper, stick it under a plain old desk lamp with a 40W bulb and sort of "cook" the tobacco under the lamp for a few minutes. I do this with aromatics that I smoke that come overly moist.

 

[missy]

OK--so tobacco should be kept moist for storage, but dried out a bit for smoking??? Makes sense

 

[matchstickman]

Some tobacco manufacturers add certain additives to pipe tobacco in order to keep it more moist longer so as to preserve shelf life. A lot of high quality tobaccos have a lot of naturally occurring moisture that will help it to age properly for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 30 years, etc. Once you decide to pop the seal on a tin, it is generally a good idea to dry the tobacco out a bit before smoking because it will provide a drier, cooler smoke which will also give more flavor than moist tobacco. Your assessment, as provided above, is more or less correct in most cases, but everyone prefers different moisture levels in their tobaccos. Experiment and see what works for you.

 

[ugh457]

a plain old desk lamp with a 40W bulb and sort of "cook" the tobacco

Sounds obvious when you read it, but I wouldn't have thought of that ... good idea

 

[lumberjakpipester]

I personally found that the thing that causes the worst wettest smokes is a very narrow shank/stem drilling. I had a very small mini-churchwarden once, that literally used to drip juice when I was finnished(well, about a 4rth of the bowl really)a bowl. The bottom had a disgusting black pool of condensation in it, soaking into more than half the tobacco, and that even with very dry blends. After inspecting the airway, I noticed it was only about the size of a large sewing needle! But slowly hand drilling the shank and stem, solved the problem entirely. Just my two pennies.

 

[javajunkie]

Have to back up the drying and pacing of your smoke, and how you pack it. Another trick for while you learn good habits: use a pipe cleaner to help soak up some moisture. If your pipe can drop a cleaner through to the bowl without disassembly, it works perfectly to wick away a little moisture. Also helps if your hole might become blocked due to drawing or tamping.
Slow down, take your time in both preparation and smoking, and best of luck!