Packing Fresh Tobacco Without Emptying Pipe

[shutterbugg]

Alright, I searched on this and found nothing. I've been a pipe guy for 40+ years, and I was smoking with a chap I know who is also a veteran pipe guy, and I saw him do something I've never seen anyone do before. His pipe had gone out, he lightly dumped just the ash, leaving some residual tobacco in the bottom of the bowl (about a quarter I'd say)and he proceeded to repack the pipe with fresh tobacco and relight. Said he always does it. Of course I had to give it a try It was fine actually. So I just wonder if any of you other veteran pipers do it or have even heard of doing it.

 

[warren]

Seems as though doing that as a matter of routine would be pretty harsh on the pipe, all that wet dottle sitting on the bottom. To each his own I suppose.

 

[jservant98]

Shutterbugg, don't worry one of the mods will take care of that duplicate post. I am sorry I have not heard of anyone doing what your friend does but I suspect that since he is not smoking the pipe all the way to the bottom, He doesn't want to waste the Un-Smoked tobacco that is left over. I am not that knowledgeable but I thought I would try to answer! :D

 

[shutterbug]

A lot of old timers do that. Some are convinced that the first 1/3 to the 2/3 of the bowl tastes great and they leave their dottle to use as a buffer and makeshift filter. I've seen it done, but those who do it seem to have pretty beaten up pipes. They are the ones that have a pipe permanently attached to their mouths 24/7.

It's not that uncommon with the old timers.
Shutterbug

 

[7ach]

Seems it would alter the next smokes flavor just by passing through already resinated, smoky tobacco.

 

[kb7get]

I have been topping off a pipe like that for about 40+ years at times. Dump it when it gets to full of ash.

 

[matchstickman]

You can certainly do it, it's not a practice I subscribe to, but watching someone else do it is pretty badass.

 

[tamer291]

I gave a pipe veteran some tobacco and he layered his pipe. He put the new tobacco on top of his tobacco, then smoked it. Two complete different blends. To each their own.

 

[sfsteves]

Conan Doyle had his famous detective Sherlock Holmes saving dottles then, once enough had been accumulated, using them to stuff his pipe and lighting up as though using new tobacco ... I'd always ascribed that to Holmes being a fictional character who was supposed to be rather idiosyncratic and never once considered that anyone would do that in real life ... guess again, eh?

 

[tbradsim1]

I do it all the time, when I'm down about half a bowl and I have a smidgen left in a paper plate I load it up, kind of like a Banna Split! LOL

 

[jpberg]

I do it all the time. This morning I scraped the ash out of a Castello that I filled with GH Dark Flake last evening - there was a about a quarter bowl of unburned tobacco left, so I filled it up with the same blend and had a delightful smoke.

I will say that re-lit Latakia blends leave a somewhat sour taste for me, so unless I'm immediately refilling a (warm) empty bowl, I don't relight a (cold) bowl of a Latakia.

 

[petes03]

It might be just fine to do that, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to try it!

 

[docwatson]

Yes, I do that all the time. The bottom of the bowl is usually the tastiest portion and I don't always dump it out. Bradley likes his banana split, I like the Parfait!! LOL

However I always put a pipe cleaner through the stem before leaving the pipe for the night with tobacco remaining in the bowl to get rid of any excess moisture and bitterness.

 

[twangthang]

Nobody taught me to do it, and I guess nobody told me not to.

Just seems to work for me.

 

[kashmir]

I've done this occasionally. Especially when I'm out and about, lunting as it were, and I don't have the time to clean said pipe. I'll just load on top of a half smoked bowl. For me, its akin to chain smoking. When I get a chance though I'll clean the pipe and load a "proper" bowl.

 

[escioe]

I tried this once very early on in my pipesmoking days and found it to be a sour mess. Haven't done it since then. Tobacco isn't that expensive.

 

[nsfisher]

Yup, several times a day. I am just too lazy to clean out the bowl.

 

[tennsmoker]

I do this all the time, especially when I'm in the car, driving.
I had a friend long ago who smoked Bugler's and just kept 'er going all day, refilling as he went along.
His pipes were a mess, but I never saw him clean them, other than to knock them out on the side of a building!

 

[shutterbugg]

LOL I guess I owe my friend an apology.

 

[mso489]

By the time I get to the last 1/8th of the bowl, if there is any tobacco left, it is both moist and charred and not full of flavor.

Do I want to recycle it as a second bowl of tobacco? Nope. I guess with a really large pipe, that is not likely to burn down

to the bottom, it might work well enough. Usually, what prompts me to consider a bowl smoked is a slight diminishment

of the flavor. After that, I just want to empty and clean the pipe, and let it rest. If I need another smoke, I'll move on to a

different pipe and a different tobacco. If it works for you, this is irrelevant; enjoy!