Pipes smoke wet

[fluffie666]

I have a few pipes. All of them are 3/4 to full bent. For some reason every bowl out of every pipe gurgles at some point and I have to take care of it for the rest of my smoke with a pipe cleaner. I dry my tobaccos, pack using the three layer method, I smoke slow and tamp sparingly. Any advice for a frustrated novice?

 

[rangerearthpig]

I don't claim to know a dang thing about pipes, but I will say that my straights ALL smoke much drier than my bents.

 

[voorhees]

I have that problem occasionally. I just use the pipe cleaner like you, fortunately the more you learn the better you get at controlling it. But however some pipes just do smoke wet.

 

[mso489]

You might not want to clench those pipes much. Saliva can add to the moisture put out by the burning

tobacco and other condensation from the heat. They might be best for really dry tobacco. You can smoke

a lot of tobacco very dry to the touch, though I realize you are already drying out your leaf.

 

[fluffie666]

Wow, you guys come through quick! I appreciate that. I like all my bent pipes a lot. I was thinking that once I get a good cake going in them they might smoke more dry. At least that's my theory. Haven't been smoking long enough to know for sure. Was also going to buy a straight. There's a store around me that's going to have a little pipe show this month so I am going to bust open the piggy bank for that. In the mean time I'll just go heavy on the extra absorbant pipe cleaners.

 

[fluffie666]

I don't dry until the tobacco is crispy. Should I try that?

 

[goldsm]

I think that's a normal almost. If you don't like it I do recommand a Brigham pipe with maple filter.

You could enjoy dry smoke until end. ....or ....just pipe cleaner.

 

[drwatson]

What kind of pipes are they (brand) some of my bents that gurgled had small draft holes. I opened them up, packed alittle looser and gurgle gone. However I would not recommend opening them up unless you know what you are doing.

 

[bigvan]

Just a few opinions...
"Saliva can add to the moisture put out by the burning tobacco and other condensation from the heat." I would be VERY surprised if saliva was able to passively go from your mouth through the button into the draft hole.
"I don't dry until the tobacco is crispy. Should I try that?" NOOOOOOOOOOO! I've never dried tobacco in over 25 years of pipe smoking. Yes, dry tobacco burns better but you're losing SO much flavor.
So what should you do? Assuming you're smoking a pipe of decent quality, I'd say perfect your pack and SLOW DOWN. I've never met a rookie smoker who didn't puff WAY too fast.

 

[fluffie666]

The pipes are an Italian no name (I'm sure that one helps), a BBB Honeycroft, Amphora 725-645 and a Peterson Kildare which I am babying now with a pipe cleaner. I have some Three Nuns stacked up in him right now... No crispy tobacco. Got it.

 

[yaddy306]

I agree with bigvan.

Slow down. Waaaayyy down.

Don't bother drying out your tobacco.

Build a nice cake.

Use pipe cleaners during the smoke as needed.

 

[fluffie666]

I will slow down then and continue with the pipe cleaners. I'm very lucky because close to where I live here in Pa there is a great pipe shop with a smoking bar. The owner said I am more than welcome to come and puff with the veteran pipe smokers there and get some advice from them too. Great atmosphere and the owner is just a great guy. Very nice. I have to make the time to sit in there and take him up on that offer. I'm sure that would help.

 

[fluffie666]

One more question... if we equate smoking a pipe to driving a car, when we say slow down, do we mean go 25 mph or 5 mph?

 

[nsfisher]

if we equate smoking a pipe to driving a car, when we say slow down, do we mean go 25 mph or 5 mph?

Just idle along mate.

 

[cigrmaster]

I am not a fan of full bent pipes personally, many times they are not drilled properly and not matter how good your technique is the pipe will gurgle. The next pipe you buy, try a straight or a 1/8 bent.
If you want a pipe that never gurgles no matter how you smoke, get a Rad Davis. I have 18 of them and not once has any of them needed a pipe cleaner to soak up excess moisture. I can take my pipe outside in the Florida humidity in the summer and it will not gurgle. You can get an estate Rad pipe in the 225-275 price range. Not sure if that fits your budget but if you save up and don't buy a bunch of 50.00 pipes, you will get one of the best performing pipes on the market.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

According to a conversation with Erik Nording that confirmed my theory, one of the reasons that you see the high grade Dannish bent pipes drilled higher than the bottom of the chamber is to allow the moisture a place to go out of the way of the draw, so it won't gurgle. Bents just create more turbulence than straights because of the bend. The Danes even sell a rock thing that fits into the bottom to allow you to smoke all of the tobacco, instead of losing some to being too wet. Nording has one... SEE HERE
However, nsfisher is right, idle. The harder you draw, the more turbulence you create. Think of the stem as a condenser tube, as in a moonshine still with all of the copper pipe or an air conditioner. The harder the air flows through the tube and the cooler the tube is, the more moisture that is pulled from the smoke, which naturally contains water as a byproduct of combustion.
Drying the tobacco won't help with moisture in the stem. However there are a few blends that I dry out completely to reduce the bite and bring out more flavor. Brian Levine suggests this for Va and VaPers. However there may be some blends, as Bigvan says, that would loose flavor.

 

[redbeard]

Same as above, sometimes they will gurgle no matter what, I don't think I saw what kind of tobacco your smoking but it seems for me an aro will do it more than a VaPer. Try to keep your mouth free of drool even if you can't help it from the amazing tastes :rofl:
I have a few that just do it to spite me every time and I have to throw out the last of the bowl. It's just how the cookie crumbles (some Jim Carrey movie HAHA)

 

[saint007]

A few Eric's Stones (Erik Nording)will help. I get mine from the Danish Pipe Shop. If I can't get the gurgling under control, I'll discontinue smoking that pipe.

 

[fluffie666]

@cosmicfolklore - I'll look into that Nording stone. That's interesting.
@cigrmaster - Thanks for the info. An estate Rad will be my next pipe purchase. I'd much rather spend a few extra bucks to enjoy than spend fifty dollars over and over again only to get one smokable pipe. Great info. Thank you.
@redbeard - Can't stand aros. Vapers on the other hand, some of them I think are outstanding. Just got some Dunbar. Yum!
@nsfisher - You are the man! I will. Nice bird.
@saint007 - How does that stone affect taste?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I can't really endorse the stone, as I've never used it. So, if it sucks, I'm sorry. Be sure to let us know. I don't smoke my bent pipes as much as my straights. But, when I do, I really don't have many issues with wetness. I'm fairly certain that I leave a dottle at the end, but I figure it's less than a nickle's worth, so...

But give us a report ::