Pipe Smoking Sour At End

[carolinachurchwarden]

I just had the most perfect bowl of Chartwell, a Tinder Box blend, that I bought when I bought the $45 no name pipe off their wall. It was fantastic until the last few puffs and I just had the most awful sour draw I have ever had. When I dumped it right after, it was a little wet at the bottom, but not too bad. This was a learning pipe and I may have been smoking a lot of bowls moister than they should have been and have had quite a few gurgle over my learning experience and discovering that I needed to dry out my tobaccos more prior to stuffing. What leads to this sour taste you get near the bottom of the bowl and is it something I can correct, or do I need to super clean the bowl after the possibility of some juice soaking into the bottom?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Think of the bottom layer as a filter. All of the nicotine and tar drawn down from the rest of the bowl settles there.

 

[bassbug]

In my experience, a wet pipe gives a sour smoke. Either wet from a previous smoke or from tobacco that has not been dried enough.
It certainly doesn't hurt to stuff a pipe cleaner or q tip in the mortice to just soak up any moisture after a smoke. If your pipe will pass a pipe cleaner with the stem on, try running one through during the last third of a bowl as you're smoking.
Better yet, dry the blend that's giving you trouble a little more before lighting up.
For me it was a trial and error thing, but it gets easier with time and certainly a lot easier of you limit yourself to a reasonable number of pipes and blends so that the combinations are manageable.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have found that most of the aromatics that contain mostly a base of cavendish burleys to be sour at the dottle. I usually just stop smoking an aromatic and some latakia blends when they start to get that sour taste at the end. Now, a Virginia or a Vaper, I will smoke till that last bit of ash hits my tongue. The last little bit of a Virginia dottle is sublime, IMO.

 

[npod]

It happens. Probably from the moisture at the bottom. Sometimes it's also ash mixed with moisture, yuck. I hate when that occurs, it's like a slap in the face after a wonderful relaxing moment. It can be avoided by technique to an extent, but sometimes it just occurs. For example, Gas Light and Penzance due it to me. I've learned to just avoid smoking to bottom with certain blends. But, Virginias, now that's a different story, they tend to smoke great to the end.

 

[npod]

Ha, I was typing when Cosmic posted. So we agree, Virginia's tend to have less of the acrid bottom bowl taste vs other baccy.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Okay, I can understand the logic in thinking of the last third as a filter of sorts, and I bought this as a 2 ounce bag from TB and just let it sit there since October...it's pretty damn dry already. I actually lost it behind my desk at the office for about 4 months, so I've been burning a lot of it lately here just to get rid of it and not waste it, but it's on the last leg and I think I only have about one good bowlful left.
It will pass a cleaner now, without the adapter, which I just removed last week to smoke it without it for the first time to see how it would do. It was just the best bowl at the office I've had in a while, no re-lights, only had to light it once. Smoked for about 25 minutes and was about to dump it anyway, but that last puff just before I did squeezed my face up like I'd been sucking on a lemon. Hate to end a good smoke that way, but I didn't really have a choice.
This one did have a little cavendish in it, from TB's website:

A carefully balanced blend of choice bright Virginia and Cavendish Tobaccos, rough cut for cool burning.

Maybe I just need to pick me up a nice Virginia blend for the office. I enjoy the aroma of a aro here at the office, and it seems most passerby do too, but if it means the difference between ending on a sour note (you see what I did there?) and ending on a nice last puff before heading back inside, I'd rather have the latter.

 

[bassbug]

I'm wondering whether its the leaf or the additives. Burley smokes nicely right down to the end for me most every time, even though I smoke what is classifed as an aromatic like Mac Baren Golden Extra.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You could always give the air pocket method a try.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

A few aromatics that I absolutely love down to the last fleck in the bowl are, Vanilla Flake by MacBarons, Solani Mango Flake, and... well I could just list my favs, but maybe look for aromatics that are Virginia based. I have nothing against burleys, especially big meaty gut punch burleys, but those pip-squeak, weak-assed burleys used in a lot of those goopy aromatics just don't appeal to me, in flavor, nor strength. They have a waxy smelling room note, like an unscented candle burning, or when you accidentally take a bite out of a wax apple (don't ask, ha ha).

But, I find that a really good quality Virginia aromatic or even one made by one of the better blending houses, like Peterson's Summertime blend is a really nice to the last drop kinda aro.
Just my take on it. Maybe your pipe is dirty also. YMMV ::

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

@Embers Interesting method that I haven't seen yet. Looks like it would also cut your smoke time approximately in half for each bowl. Would that be a solution for the particular blend, or the pipe as a whole?
Yeah, I just have gotten back into things recently, so I haven't really bought a whole lot of a variety of tobacco yet, mostly out of the fact that they're hard to find at local B&M's and if you do find them, they're double the price of online stores. I mean I'm all for supporting my local pipeshop, but sometimes my billfold dictates where I shop. I've been doing a bit of searching around for something different to try, but with so many to choose from, where do you even start? I did buy about three tins of some Nording Labrador and that stuff is fantastic to the last puff, but I have to wait a really long time in this Carolina humidity to dry it out, so I bought some CB White pouch for when I don't have the time before bed to set some out. That stuff never dries out anyway, so it doesn't matter, plus it's cheap. Any thoughts on something maybe pouch based that I could try out? I probably should just give this pipe a good cleaning and soak. Probably saturated with too many horrible smokes while I was nailing down my technique and trying different things out.
I reckon I'd have to hid the wife's fake fruit display if you came over to the house there, Cosmic...

 

[cigrmaster]

How often do you clean your pipe and what is your method. A dirty pipe will give you sour flavors.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Or a new pipe may have some odd tastes before it's broken in. How bout a date purchased and a photo?!

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

I typically run a cleaner through and through once it cools. Since taking out the adapter, I can pass a cleaner now as soon as I dump to soak up that moisture. I usually run a cleaner down the shank several times, double it up, then run it around the bowl, followed by a wet paper towel and twist around the bowl. I do this after every bowl, but it doesn't get smoked that much. I rotate between several at the office, cleaning in the same manner, but I have yet to perform a deeper clean on it. I'm just figuring more and more of that kind of stuff out. It's hard to pinpoint how many bowls have been though it, since I'm not routine in any sense of the word on how I smoke. What I need to establish is a good routine for when to clean deeper than just with a pipe cleaner and running water with a paper towel. I've seen that a lot of guys use alcohol and I've seen a lot of different guys methodology, but I just need to pick one and go with it to see if it works.
Do you have any recommendations Harris?

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Here's a couple pics for reference:

 

[cigrmaster]

My procedure for cleaning my pipes is as follows. I let my pipes cool overnight then break the pipe down. I will take one or 2 fluffy cleaners depending on size of the bowl and wipe the inside of the bowl and then blow through the shank. I then take either one or 2 bristle cleaners again depending on the size of the shank, double them over and run them through the shank, first twisting them and then running them back and forth. I will then use fluffy cleaners until they come out clean. I then take one or two fluffy cleaners and run those through the stem. Many of my pipes have stems that can take two cleaners. I then use Obidisian stem oil on my vulcanite stems before putting the pipe to rest for at least 24 hours but normally 48. I do this every time after I have smoked one bowl of tobacco in a pipe. I never use the same pipe twice or more in a day. I have plenty of pipes so I use them. Some might think this is over kill, but in 20 years I have never had a pipe sour on me.
For deep cleanings I use Everclear, shank brush, bristle and fluffy cleaners along with Obidisian Stem Oil and pretty much do the same as above. I have never or will I ever use anything that is not drinkable on my pipes. Isopropyl alcohol has never touched one of my pipes. I also never rub the inside of my bowls with any type of alcohol. When needed I will take a pipe knife or my Senior reamer and use those to scrap and even out my cake. I rarely have to ream a pipe more than once in a year and sometimes not for a couple of years.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The only pipes I've used alcohol on in the past thirty years have been estate restorations. I just run a pipe cleaner through the stem, then wipe out the bowl with the cleaner doubled over. I'll smoke the same pipe twice per day for a week cleaning it this way after each smoke, then rotate out to another pipe. Never a sour pipe here.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I like to run hot water through a hot pipe, but it's not always practical, so right now are sitting a handful of cold pipes some with a bit of dottle, some not, ready for a mass cleaning, also with hot water. Paper towel drying and "reaming" the chamber, one pipe cleaner in the stem. Mineral oil on the stem every great while (just lazy, could be more diligent about that). Sometimes the stem is removed while drying, and the mortise dried and cleaned.
LINK to fuller discussion on this treatment.
A year ago I had 300 pipe cleaners; now I have about 250. At Harris' rate I'd have none! YMMV.

 

[Chasing Embers]

@Embers Interesting method that I haven't seen yet. Looks like it would also cut your smoke time approximately in half for each bowl.

The same as having to dump the soggy half of the bowl, just without the soggy part.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

That sounds like it will certainly keep them good and clean. I'll try to clean this one out really good later tonight and see what happens tomorrow.
@Embers Well I reckon that would be about the same, and I'd be saving on pipe tobacco in the process since I wouldn't have to toss half a bowlful of soggy tobacco.