Pipe Juice

[shutterbugg]

So, drying tobacco is the key: Then, no gurgle, no unpleasant emissions from the pipe stem

Hahaha, well maybe you found a loophole in the laws of physics but for the rest of us the only way that's a good solution is if the outside air is zero humidity and the ambient temperature is equal to or hotter than the smoke as it exits the bowl through the draft hole. And, you don't mind losing a goodly portion of the flavor of most blends. The age-old wisdom for judging moisture is to pinch a clump of tobacco together and then let go. If it stays clumped it's too wet, if it falls apart it's just right, but if it crunches or crumbles then it's too dry.
A better solution is to stick with blends that are shipped within a good smoking moisture range (such as Dunhill,to name just one example)and slow your puffing speed down. Also, avoid the assinine "air packing" method or anything that doesn't place some tobacco in the heel. That tobacco will absorb much condensation, otherwise it'll collect in the bottom of the bowl and eventually get into the stem.
And "pipe juice" and "gurgle" do not go hand-in-hand. A pipe collects moisture due to condensation. A pipe gurgles from that condensation because it's drilled improperly, allowing space in front of the tenon.

 

[jpmcwjr]

We've already been there, but the thread was deleted, apparently.
The age-old method is a start, but it's clear that you smoke moist tobacco as evidenced by your inability to find good smoking past the first half or so of a bowl, and by your insistence that Dunhill ships tobacco at the perfect moisture for immediate smoking. They ship it at the right content for packing, shipping and cellaring. Very few maintain that properly dried tobacco has lost any of its flavor; on the contrary, a number here have said it is more flavorful when between 55%-70% RH at 70º, which is also what the two top blenders and pipe smokers in the US have stated. And how does one know? Hygrometers for a start.
So, pipe juice and gurgle are quite related in that they are both products of condensation. And few would agree that gurgle is solely the result of a poor airway. There has to be sufficient moisture condensed out of the tobacco for that to occur in most cases. I don't smoke system pipes, and you don't smoke dry tobacco, so maybe we can leave this last point alone.

 

[igloo]

Sources Please ! And that will end this conversation .

 

[fitzy]

I knew Canadians were behind this somehow

I think Peck is somehow behind this! Must be some ploy to make some of his favorite tobacco's easier to obtain.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I've never seen such dogma around any aspsect of pipe smoking as moisture of the tobacco. I had a guy send me a sample of something and included a note about how idiotic it would be to dry the sample further, because the sample was perfect. It was perfectly moist enough to bite my tongue. If someone wants to smoke tobacco at some scientific moisture level using scientific measureing devices, go at it, buddy. If that someone wants to try to dictate what is "correct" to someone, then they can just insert their ideas up their...
Everyone is different. Different acidty, chemical makeup. And, we live in different environments. There is no way that there can be just one perfect moisture level for everyone across the world. Plus, how borring would that be? We can suggest moisture levels that might work for someone that works for us, but we can't "tell" someone what is the perfect moisture level. It's a subtle use of words that makes something either a suggestion or a demand.
That said, moisture in the pipe has very little to do with the moisture of the tobacco, (sorry) some but not as mich as you'd think. There is ambient condensation, which in Alabama is sometimes 90+%. But, even in the desert, with bone dry tobacco, you will get moisture. The natural bi-product of combustion is water, so the smart people tell me. Smart folks have also explained to me that bent pipes condense more of the moisture out of the smoke than straights. As I understand it, the bend creates turbulence, as does open chambers in the pipe, like where a filter would go or a poorly designed fit for a tennon. The bend works like the tubing in an air compressor, or the condensation tubes on an alcahol still. It pulls the moisture from smoke, whether the tobacco was bone dry or the humidity is nil. Sorry, there's just always going to be some moisture in smoke.

For me, I find that a very slow long draw in my slow cadence produces less turbulence and less juice, moisture, or gurgle. And, straight to semi bends without chambers or poorly fit stems tend to be the easiest to smoke. That's me, some have said the opposite. Do your own research, and find what is best for your smoking style.
Now, I am in the almost bone dry camp. I have smoked hundreds of thousands of bowls at this point in my pipe smoking; wet, goopy, old, fresh, medium, dry, and crunchy. It may piss some people off for some narcasistic reason, but there are some blends and flakes that I taste way more flavor in and get a better burn, when the tobacco is close to crunchy. Not all, but some. Why does this trigger some people? It doesn't bother me when someone has to compare and match their tobacco to a cat turd's moisture before they smoke it. Someone can drench their tobacvo in PG for all I care. I'm not affected (effected?) at all. I am enthralled with the idea people are different than me and different from each other. This is one of the magnificent mysteries of the world. I not only tolerate it, but I embrace it. I'm more concerned when this bothers someone. I wouldn't want to be surrounded by copies of myself.

Anyways, enjoy what you smoke, and smoke what you enjoy. And, maybe try different things if you're so inclined. YMMV

 

[shutterbugg]

If someone wants to smoke tobacco at some scientific moisture level using scientific measureing devices, go at it, buddy.
There is no way that there can be just one perfect moisture level for everyone across the world.

Exactly! Which is why I said moisture range, not level. To assert that any manufacturer can pinpoint a set humidity level is ridiculous. Pretty much all cheap pouched tobaccos are glutted with PG so it can remain in that poor packaging for eons on a supermarket rack and not be crunchy when opened. Even the makers of those tobaccos know their crap will taste like even worse crap if it's too dry. Top-quality blenders take different strategies. SG ships theirs so wet it holds together like cookie dough, and requires multiple relights to fire it up. They don't do that because they're afraid it'll dry out in transit or storage. They do it because they feel that's how it gives the most flavor. YMMV. Dunhill's may be too wet for some people's taste, but it's a laughable bone-headded assertion that they ship it moister than they feel it needs to be for best flavor. Again, YMMV. Neither the blenders nor I give a flying f*ck if the end-user has some compulsive notion it must be dried further.

That said, moisture in the pipe has very little to do with the moisture of the tobacco, (sorry) some but not as mich as you'd think. There is ambient condensation, which in Alabama is sometimes 90+%. But, even in the desert, with bone dry tobacco, you will get moisture. The natural bi-product of combustion is water, so the smart people tell me. Smart folks have also explained to me that bent pipes condense more of the moisture out of the smoke than straights. As I understand it, the bend creates turbulence, as does open chambers in the pipe, like where a filter would go or a poorly designed fit for a tennon.

Exactly again.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Not that this is fact for every company, but I did read a historical fiction set in 1700 Austrian village. I know, I know... but anyways, the story included a blurb about how the Germanic tobacco smugglers were using Tax to weight laws to make more money and avoid paying taxes by loading the tobacco up with water and sugars. The tobacconists were also pastry folks, so they were making the tobaccos taste like the pastries to appeal more to their customers. Water, sugars, apple cinnamon goop, it adds weight, less tax paid by the company for more taxes paid by the consumer, plus more product to sell. It was just fiction, The Hangman's Daughter, good book. But, the story was well researched, and may have a sliver of truth in there. Every country that the tobacco passed through took massive taxes out on the weight...

it wouldn't surprise me if the fraction of weight the water added to some EU blends may have a little toe in playing the scales to their side of profit. Maybe.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

As a side note, the main character was a pipe smoker. And, they mentioned how some countries had laws that said that any man caught smoking a pipe could be beaten with sticks. It seems like pipe guys have always had someone riding our asses. ::

 

[crashthegrey]

It seems like pipe guys have always had someone riding our asses.

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"it wouldn't surprise me if the fraction of weight the water added to some EU blends may have a little toe in playing the scales to their side of profit."
On that point I must whole heartedly agree. I have weighed freshly arrived blends from Sam Gawith (for example), made a note of the figure then re-weighed it once it had aired sufficiently for my liking and the difference can be quite remarkable.
Regards Dunghill blends, of the half dozen or so I have tried myself, all have had the perfect moisture content for my liking right out of the tin. Indeed, some only need the charring light and quite happily carry on burning right to the bottom of the bowl.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Excellent! For your liking! That's what it should be for everyone.
Russ O posted recently that the difference in weight between quite dry and quite wet can be up to 6%.... Now, that's a taxable amount!

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

I hate it when I get the taste of pipe juice in my mouth. If I don't have a pipe cleaner at the ready, I will cover the pipe and gently blow into the pipe to blow the juice back down into the bowl. Its a temporary fix, but it at least keeps me from having to taste pipe juice.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Exactly! Which is why I said moisture range, not level. To assert that any manufacturer can pinpoint a set humidity level is ridiculous. Pretty much all cheap pouched tobaccos are glutted with PG so it can remain in that poor packaging for eons on a supermarket rack and not be crunchy when opened. Even the makers of those tobaccos know their crap will taste like even worse crap if it's too dry. Top-quality blenders take different strategies. SG ships theirs so wet it holds together like cookie dough, and requires multiple relights to fire it up. They don't do that because they're afraid it'll dry out in transit or storage. They do it because they feel that's how it gives the most flavor. YMMV. Dunhill's may be too wet for some people's taste, but it's a laughable bone-headded assertion that they ship it moister than they feel it needs to be for best flavor. Again, YMMV. Neither the blenders nor I give a flying f*ck if the end-user has some compulsive notion it must be dried further.

You can smoke at any moisture level you like, whether flying or on the ground! But you'll never get through a whole bowl happily without a bit less moisture. And I doubt that you'll ever try.
The italicized sentence above is what's absurd: Good manufacturers can indeed pinpoint the moisture level they feel is appropriate for tinning. And, to be clear, none of what I've maintained includes cheap or poorly blended tobaccos.