Need Help With Plum Pudding (and Other Krumble Kake)

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mordy18

Can't Leave
Mar 12, 2019
381
1,369
Northern New Jersey
I use the Frank method to pack ribbon cut and rubbed out flakes and it has worked very well for me. But that does not seem to work for Krumble Kake. I smoked (or tried to smoke) a bowl of Plum Pudding last night with a simple gravity fill and had no success. Constant relights, and I eventually gave up. I love the tobacco but I just can't get it to smoke well.

What should I do? It seemed more than dry enough, but I guess I could let it sit out for a while. Any suggestions on best way to pack this would be appreciated.
 
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It has been my experience that Kakes, flakes and plugs are deceptively wet. With Ribbon, it's easy to tell the moisture content but with flakes due to how thick they are, even after rubbing out needs to be dried out even more that you think.

I experienced the same issues with Plum pudding in the beginning (as well as a few other flakes ie. Gawith stuff) and dried the hell out of it which solved the problem.

Hope this helps.
 

mordy18

Can't Leave
Mar 12, 2019
381
1,369
Northern New Jersey
Thanks. Good point about it perhaps being wetter than it seems. I will dry it. I haven't had this problem -- at least not to this degree -- with flakes, although my experience is not vast. I am a big fan of Gawith and Hoggarth Bob's Chocolate flake and that has smoked well down to a nice ash. PP is the only krumble kake I've tried so far.

I can see PP being not everyone's bowl of tobacco -- it has a strong, distinctive taste so I could see it being a hate it or love it kind of thing. I really like it, as an occasional smoke.
 
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I can see PP being not everyone's bowl of tobacco
I just have never tried it. Believe it or not, there are still a few blends that I haven't gotten to yet, ha ha. But, If you are playing around with packing techniques, I would wonder about how deep the pipe is that we are talking about.

Most of my pipes are twice as deep as they are wide, "stacks" they are called. You're may not be, but I am just guessing here, since there is a lot of info I don't know. I find that packing a taller pipe a little looser than normal, and then tamping it down to adjust while smoking helps me a lot.

But, drying more is always a great suggestion. I like mine a little crunchy, but for an aromatic (this is a topped blend, no?) you need the moisture... I mean drying can deplete the topping. So, it's a trade off. It's a fine balance between smoking slow, drying the tobacco, keeping it lit, and still being able to find the flavors.

Maybe try packing loosely, tamping to adjust after lighting it, and play around with drying... sorry, answering questions like these without knowing all of the details is always a poke in the dark. But, I hope something here from one of us helps.
 

shanez

Lifer
Jul 10, 2018
5,188
24,083
49
Las Vegas
I use to cut it up as fine as I could and rub it out as much as I could and smoke it wet. Now I give it about 10 seconds in ye olde microwave which not only helps dry it but helps me rub it our a little better as well. Also packing looser than I think necessary and adjusting with a tamper helps a lot too.

I love SPC PP SR and have cellared it relatively deep.
 

mordy18

Can't Leave
Mar 12, 2019
381
1,369
Northern New Jersey
I'm smoking the last of a tin of regular SPC PP, and have a tin of the reserve ready to go. As far as I know it's not topped -- its an English/Balkan blend. Quite smokey and "barbecuey".

I smoked it last night in a large bent egg with a fairly deep bowl (a Big Ben 018). I had a bit more success previously when using a Castello 55 which as I'm sure you know has a wide bowl.

Will leave some out overnight to get nice and arid, rub it out really well, and see where I get with judicious tamping.
 

Johnny_Pipecleaner

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 13, 2019
583
2,984
Mill Valley, CA
Experimentation/experience is key. The more you smoke, and the more methods/tricks you try, the better you'll get at smoking and adapting to various tobaccos.

Drying the tobacco increases the ease of lighting/smoking, but does (IMHO) begin to subtract some of the flavor. Of course we want it to be dry enough to smoke, but if you overdo it you may find the flavors are less bold.

My personal motto at the moment, is relights be damned, and I err on the side of it being slightly wet so as to preserve the most flavor while still giving a reasonably enjoyable/easy smoking experience. I got myself a nice lighter and I enjoy using it ;)
 

lightmybriar

Lifer
Mar 11, 2014
1,315
1,838
Crumble cakes are the most difficult for me to pack properly, because once crumbled, the tobacco is in a more particulate format than I ever smoke otherwise. I’m always afraid to rub it out too much, as I feel like I’ll draw it through the stem, yet conversely, I don’t want to leave it in big chunks because it won’t light or smoke well that way. What I’ve started to do that has worked alright for me lately is to leave it fairly chunky for about half of a centimeter and then top that with finer particulate. Maybe give that a try with sufficient drying?
 

mordy18

Can't Leave
Mar 12, 2019
381
1,369
Northern New Jersey
Crumble cakes are the most difficult for me to pack properly, because once crumbled, the tobacco is in a more particulate format than I ever smoke otherwise. I’m always afraid to rub it out too much, as I feel like I’ll draw it through the stem, yet conversely, I don’t want to leave it in big chunks because it won’t light or smoke well that way. What I’ve started to do that has worked alright for me lately is to leave it fairly chunky for about half of a centimeter and then top that with finer particulate. Maybe give that a try with sufficient drying?
Thanks. That sounds like good advice.

This topic raises another question/observation -- impact of tobacco "behavior"on the enjoyment of a smoking experience. I know some, like a poster above, don't care about relights. For me, I tend to get real satisfaction out of smoking a bowl with few or occasionally no relights, that produces enough smoke, and burns down cleanly to a fine ash. It does make a difference -- to me -- and while I love the taste of PP, I've had much more enjoyable smoking experiences with less "premium" tobaccos that behave particularly well (in particular Rocky Patel prohibition pure and simple, which is consistently a dream to smoke). I'll see if I can get the PP to behave better.
 
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mtwaller

Lifer
Nov 21, 2018
1,311
5,333
34
Atlanta, GA
I’ve gotten turned on to the microwave method of expediting the drying process, and I think it works well for PP, which is one of my all time favorite tobaccos. I like to rub it out about as well as you can rub out these kakes without turning it to dust. Then I lay it out on a paper towel really flat (single layer, if you will), and microwave it for about 8 seconds. Then I leave the tobacco to dry for another 20-30 minutes and it seems to smoke like a champ.

It’s easy to pack too tightly when it’s damp and sticky, but once properly dried it packs much better. I’m definitely no expert on packing or drying, but with PP I usually gravity fill up to the top, and gently compress the whole bowl down rather than doing the 3 pack method. Then I’ll test the draw, and if satisfied, I’ll put the remainder of the super fine leftovers on top to help it get going.
 
Crumble cakes are the most difficult for me to pack properly,
Yeh, just to vent a little, screw crumble cakes. WTF!? If melding the flavors was so important, why didn't the blender just use whole leaf to make a real plug? Was the only thing the blender could get to make a new tobacco out of was a can of something already processed and tinned up by a real blender? It always reminds me of those videos of guys pressing their own cakes on Youtube, very amateurish.

You can't fold and fill a chamber with one. They don't smoke like flakes at all. The only advantage I can see is that they just fall apart on you like wet WalMart furniture.

OK, that is out of my system... ::cough cough:: Sorry, excuse me. I apologize. puffy
 

dcon

Lifer
Mar 16, 2019
2,636
21,489
Jacksonville, FL
I rub it out and dry it I like a little moisture in it so, I will not dry it as long as a VA Flake. I then pack it loose on the bottom and a little more compressed on top using extremely rubbed out tobacco to expedite the light. Tamp lightly because it does need a looser draw to stay lit and to get the full taste. Good luck!

PS I also smoke this in larger bowls.
 

Idahojoe

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 30, 2019
168
232
62
Wilder, Idaho
I smoke a bowl of PP every morning. If you dry it some (be careful, don't get it too dry) and pack it loose you should have some luck with it. As someone said above, I just dribble it in the bowl until it's full and then press it down lightly. After a light or two, you can tamp it again (lightly) and you should be on your way. It often requires more relights than some other tobaccos, but once you get used to it, it's not bad.
Enjoy it, it's worth the effort -currently my favorite tobacco.
 

Worknman

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 23, 2019
968
2,819
I don't care for crumble cakes either for this same reason. Too hard to get it just right in order for it to behave, from how much to "crumble" it to how long to dry it to how to pack it, etc. Last time I smoked PPSR I couldn't keep it lit and it tore my tongue up for days.
 
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Johnny_Pipecleaner

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 13, 2019
583
2,984
Mill Valley, CA
Then I lay it out on a paper towel really flat (single layer, if you will), and microwave it for about 8 seconds.

Tried this microwave technique for the first time ever last night. Used some Plum Pudding Special Reserve. It was the most well behaved bowl of PP I have ever smoked. Good call!

I nuked for exactly 8 seconds on a paper towel. I only let it dry for about 10 mins after that. Then I gently sprinkled it into a small bowl (gravity fill), then VERY lightly tamped, and proceeded to enjoy. It burned at a very slow rate (but required only 1 or 2 relights) down to a fine white ash.
 
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