I've adopted something that I have not seen anywhere else. I'm wondering if it's causing my tobacco to be too tight once lit and smoking. Keep in mind that when I test the draw, It's still consistent with the typical method, but more often than not in doing it my way I find certain tobaccos make my pipe burning hot no matter how slowly I smoke and it's frustrating.
Here we go.
I do this for both the three-pack method and the gravity fill method.
I sprinkle in the tobacco to the brim. Instead of pushing it down, I tape the side of the pipe with my finger 5-6 times. The tobacco jumps around and all of the pieces eventually fall into place, like how the pieces fit together in the game of Tetris. The tobacco drops a noticeable amount when I do this. I then lightly push down with my finger, and fill it back up to the brim, then repeat the tapping, I fill it to the top and repeat the same tapping and push it down to just under the brim.
Or, after I've filled to the top and tapped until the tobacco lowers, I add more and tap again. Then I push it down halfway and repeat until I have a full bowl.
Gravity method
I sprinkle in the tobacco until it's at the rim. I tap it several times just like before and the tobacco drops a lot. I sprinkle more to the rim and tap it again, which usually drops more. I sprinkle more and tap the side of my pipe a few more times and it drops to just below the rim and I gently tamper it and I'm ready to smoke.
Every time I sprinkle tobacco into the bowl, I tape it numerous times with my finger on the side so the pieces fit into place.
I have never seen anybody else do this. They sprinkle to the rim and then compress, sprinkle, and compress more, sprinkle and compress to below the brim (For the three-pack method).
Or they sprinkle until it's just above the brim and gently tap it with the heel of the pipe, light tamper, and voila
Without tapping the pipe several times on the side I believe that the tobacco has little gaps where some of the pieces do not fit tightly together. Even when you fill to the rim and then tamper it down, there are still gaps unless you have first tapped it several times to shake the tobacco pieces into fitting closer together. Are the little gaps beneficial, and is this why everybody loads without tapping several times as they slowly fill up the bowl?
To summarize, I have watched a trillion videos on YouTube about packing, and I have read hours upon hours about packing. I've never anybody or read about taping the pipe until the tobacco fits together after each sprinkle as I do. I'm wondering if I should NOT be doing this because it's impacting how the tobacco burns in some negative way.
The odd thing though, is that when I test the draw, it's still a good draw and no different than if I didn't tape the pipe. It does hold more tobacco this way.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Again, think of it like this.
Load to the brim, tap tap tap tap tap, add a little more tap tap tap tap tap, once it's at the brim after a few loads and taping I push down. Repeat, Repeat. Vs load to the brim and push down, load to the brim and push down, load to the brim and push down.
Both ways push down with the same force, and both ways have a similar or identical draw. The same goes for the gravity method.
This has been driving me bonkers, I've been meaning to post a thread asking about it for a while now.
Thanks for your help!
Here we go.
I do this for both the three-pack method and the gravity fill method.
I sprinkle in the tobacco to the brim. Instead of pushing it down, I tape the side of the pipe with my finger 5-6 times. The tobacco jumps around and all of the pieces eventually fall into place, like how the pieces fit together in the game of Tetris. The tobacco drops a noticeable amount when I do this. I then lightly push down with my finger, and fill it back up to the brim, then repeat the tapping, I fill it to the top and repeat the same tapping and push it down to just under the brim.
Or, after I've filled to the top and tapped until the tobacco lowers, I add more and tap again. Then I push it down halfway and repeat until I have a full bowl.
Gravity method
I sprinkle in the tobacco until it's at the rim. I tap it several times just like before and the tobacco drops a lot. I sprinkle more to the rim and tap it again, which usually drops more. I sprinkle more and tap the side of my pipe a few more times and it drops to just below the rim and I gently tamper it and I'm ready to smoke.
Every time I sprinkle tobacco into the bowl, I tape it numerous times with my finger on the side so the pieces fit into place.
I have never seen anybody else do this. They sprinkle to the rim and then compress, sprinkle, and compress more, sprinkle and compress to below the brim (For the three-pack method).
Or they sprinkle until it's just above the brim and gently tap it with the heel of the pipe, light tamper, and voila
Without tapping the pipe several times on the side I believe that the tobacco has little gaps where some of the pieces do not fit tightly together. Even when you fill to the rim and then tamper it down, there are still gaps unless you have first tapped it several times to shake the tobacco pieces into fitting closer together. Are the little gaps beneficial, and is this why everybody loads without tapping several times as they slowly fill up the bowl?
To summarize, I have watched a trillion videos on YouTube about packing, and I have read hours upon hours about packing. I've never anybody or read about taping the pipe until the tobacco fits together after each sprinkle as I do. I'm wondering if I should NOT be doing this because it's impacting how the tobacco burns in some negative way.
The odd thing though, is that when I test the draw, it's still a good draw and no different than if I didn't tape the pipe. It does hold more tobacco this way.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Again, think of it like this.
Load to the brim, tap tap tap tap tap, add a little more tap tap tap tap tap, once it's at the brim after a few loads and taping I push down. Repeat, Repeat. Vs load to the brim and push down, load to the brim and push down, load to the brim and push down.
Both ways push down with the same force, and both ways have a similar or identical draw. The same goes for the gravity method.
This has been driving me bonkers, I've been meaning to post a thread asking about it for a while now.
Thanks for your help!
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