Old Wisdom / New Wisdom from G.L. Pease's December 2022 Column

[admin]

How many times do you just stuff some tobacco into a pipe, hit it with a flame and start puffing away? I have to admit that I have been guilty of this many times. Is that the equivalent of popping a cork on a bottle of wine, filling up a solo cup, and guzzling it?

Maybe. Maybe not, but letting the wine breathe, gently pouring it into a proper wine glass, and sipping would be the better way to go. Here's G.L. Pease describing the pipe and tobacco version.

The Charring Light

 

[bullet08]

Somethings to try. Never try to "warm" the tobacco before. Breathing the new tin is something we talked about on this forum. Latakia blends benefit from it even after two weeks.

 

[Jesster109]

I'm guilty of this as well - seems harder to find time to relax with a pipe, but if I want to get one in it is usually hurried. Not ideal by any means.

BTW - any glass can be a wine glass....

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I mostly light that way, keeping the flame off the tobacco, but I don't "warm it" and let it sit for a few minutes. Will have to try it. I've been opening tins for days in advance, to let them breathe, for quite some time. Definitely makes a significant difference.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I mostly light that way, keeping the flame off the tobacco, but I don't "warm it" and let it sit for a few minutes. Will have to try it. I've been opening tins for days in advance, to let them breathe, for quite some time. Definitely makes a significant difference.

Breathing meaning literally open to the air or just opened a touch?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Breathing meaning literally open to the air or just opened a touch?

I pop the tin, put the lid back on loosely and leave it alone for at least a few days. Then put the lid back on tight until I'm ready to smoke it. I also flip back the foil or paper and lift the tobacco to loosen it a little. Of course, I take a few whiffs to enjoy the aroma.

 

[Steddy]

I need to do this more. I know I’m supposed to but my inner crackhead pyro wants to torch it.

 

[vates]

An interesting read, thank you.
I noticed that sometimes if there's an accidental slight delay between the charring light and the proper one, tobacco tasted a bit better. Now I will try to make it more deliberately.

Now, I always try to 'decant' a freshly popped tin (esp. with older tobaccos). I spread tobacco over a pad/sheet of paper, let it lay there for half an hour or so and then place it to a jar or return to its original tin.

 

[Smoke Wagon]

I do this all the time. I feel no remorse. I’m not a refined as some though.

 

[Papamique]

This is EXACTLY how I light most bowls! It has a side benefit of setting the pace and slowing me down. Like a cigar, I find it beneficial to char the entire top layer of tobacco in this manner. Setting it down for even a minute lets everything cool down and caramelize. That’s my fantasy in my mind anyways.

Greg’s articles bring a “down-to-earth” class to pipe smoking. A modern elegance without being pretentious. I love it and imagine that, much like the Cigar Boom, this will be the way forward with pipes eventually……or not.

I have never been good at foretelling the future. In fact, if you want to lose at playing the lottery just PM me and I will tell you my magik numbers.

 

[krizzose]

I never think of warming up the tobacco for flavor purposes when I light up. I do get fixated, perhaps too much so, on a sequence of charring lights and tamps to get a nice flat surface on the tobacco after it’s stopped expanding. I suppose this makes me feel like I’ll get a more even burn through the rest of the bowl. I have to admit, however, that I have no empirical evidence to suggest there’s any cause and effect there. Nor do I know for sure that the typical tamping I would do anyway wouldn’t correct any issues.

To sum up: I have no idea if what I think works actually works, and that works just fine for me

 

[Smoke Wagon]

I have a couple of pipe and tobacco combinations that seemingly refuse to stop burning on the first lighting. I don’t attempt a relight until I stop getting smoke on those, so I find myself far down the bowl before the lighter comes back out. Tamping alone often keeps them going longer than expected.