It's been a while since I've posted. But, I've had several thoughts on my mind and a few new pipes I wanted to share. My posts are more story like and long winded. But, here is one of my thoughts I felt worth sharing.
My journey with pipe tobacco started 2 years ago, but I have been a smoker for over 20. This experience helped me but also biased my thoughts. I felt I was packing right, tamping right, and smoking right. I did the "like water through a straw, not a milkshake" thing. The baby, lady, man pack. My pipes rarely got so hot I had to set them down. I must be doing everything perfectly! Right!? lol Yet, I was still getting wetter than usual smokes and left feeling like I was missing out on flavors.
My eldest dog was having issues, and so I temporarily "moved" downstairs. This way, she wouldn't have to go up and down the stairs at night and I could keep an eye on her. This put a pause on my pipe smoking, but led me to watching lots of pipe tobacco reviews and related videos; particularly long form ones where you kind of hang out with the person throughout the entire smoke. One thing stuck out to me... And, I've heard it said so many times. These people were getting through a bowl in 45mins-1.5hrs tops. I understand bowl size matters, but I was smoking regular/medium sized bowls and often getting 2.5 to 3hrs out of my smokes. Were they not sipping? My "clouds" of smoke were maybe a little more wispy than theirs. But, I'd find it hard to believe they weren't sipping. They were getting flavors I only dreamt of. They also didn't seem to be getting wet pipes, which I struggled with. These were experienced smokers. Without question, their technique was, more likely than not, better than mine. Then it dawned on me... we were both sipping relatively the same amount. The reason my smokes were lasting longer, the reason I was missing out on flavor, and likely the reason my smokes were wet, was because I was putting way more tobacco in my pipe than they were in theirs. Sure, I had learned to smoke these heavy packs lightly; sipping to avoid overheating the pipe. And, maybe I could have refined that technique more. But, I wanted to get back to experimenting with packing techniques; aiming to get into that 45min-1.5hr smoke range with more flavor and less moisture. Forgetting all of my preconceptions. Starting anew.
Due to me having "moved" downstairs, I had gone a few weeks without smoking a pipe as I previously stated. Unable to take it any longer, giving into the craving for a pipe, and filled with a newfound curiosity, I brought my pipes and tobacco downstairs, cracked a window, and began the ritual. It was an early morning on a work day. A Monday if I recall correctly. And man, for some reason I was craving breakfast. I immediately grabbed Autumn Evening and my corn cob that I've dedicated to aros. I always enjoyed the tin and room note of this tobacco. But never got much flavor out of it. Knowing that aros can often smoke wet/hot, I just dropped tobacco into the pipe; tapping it against my palm after every pinch. Essentially, the gravity fill method. Once I got toward the top, where a pinch would not fall into the pipe but rather sit in a "half in half out" state, I ever so lightly pressed this down so everything was just under the rim. I could tell already this was way lighter a pack than normal for me. It felt dainty... airy even. Mind you, I'm talking about the pack; not the draw or anything else.
I lit up, and everything was going well at the start. I never had issues getting flavors off the rip. But, those often quickly dissipated. It being a lighter pack, I had to tamp sooner than normal. And, I immediately noticed how "light" the tamping was. I tried to only focused on tamping around the edges to avoid compressing the tobacco. I needed this pack to stay light. I could already tell this was going to be a shorter smoke and I felt I was going down the right path.
Before I knew it, I was half way through the pipe and enjoying flavors more than ever before. This turned out to be one of the best smokes I'd had up to that point in time. I was done in probably just over an hour. The smoke stayed dry the whole way through. Literally not a drop of moisture on the pipe cleaner after I finished. I was starting to really enjoy this aro! I smoked probably 6 more bowls of Autumn Evening over the course of a few days in an attempt to repeat this experience, and I was successful in doing so.
I took this newfound epiphany to my VAs/VaPers. Pack light, tamp light. Sip like I always did. Perfection! New flavors. Little moisture. And more reasonable smoking times to boot (it's hard for me to set aside 2.5-3hrs, 45mins-1.5hrs is much more doable).
I'm sure there will be many that, as a result of this post, will ask me to revisit assumptions or my technique further. And, I will take these into consideration. But, I feel like I've finally started to "get it" and have found a packing technique that truly works well for me; my tamping style and cadence. If I could give one piece of advice to new smokers, it would be packing lighter and tamping softer. Forget about the "draw like straw". Sipping is important too, but my experience has shown me that sipping alone (even when done properly) is not enough for that "next level" smoking experience. I did not change my cadence at all. I simply changed my pack; my tamp changed as a result of that. And it was world changing.
If you made it this far, congratulations lol I hope taking you along in this journey was useful or at the very least entertaining.
The last time I dried out my tobacco was FVF. I don't know how anyone could smoke that without drying, but I also didn't know how to do a proper prepare/pack a gravity fill at the time either.
