So, I have these couple of 6 + year old tins of Dunhill and for no apparent reason I can never finish a bowl of Nightcap, it's not that I can't handle, it does absolutely nothing to me, no buzz or anything, but it seems I can't make the lower part of the tobacco burn in the bowl, tried it in a Peterson 301, a Peterson Tyrone, Peterson Tankard, Stanwell Prestige, Chacom Prestige and in none of these pipes does it burn to the end, usually I smoke most of the tobaccos untill they become nothing but white ash, but not with this one, no matter how much I try to light it either, I either puff it agressively or it just dies out instantely. I don't get this problem with Standard Mixture Mild or 965.
Problem with Nightcap
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In my experience, Latakia doesn't burn as well as other tobaccos - the other blends you listed have more Virginias, and I imagine they help keep the Latikia lit. In addition, I recall Nightcap being finely cut - you might need to pack it a little less tightly than your other blends. Just my two cents.
Odd, Nightcap seems to be the only blend I can keep lit all the way to the bottom. Although I tend to smoke it from a pipe with a wider chamber than normal. Generally I have to tamp once, somewhere around mid-bowl. I dont pack it very tightly.
You'd better get that technique right. If you don't smoke the whole bowl, we'll revoke your pipe carrying card :wink:
There's no badges for smoking the entire bowl. I stop when I feel through with it, sometimes down to pure white ash, sometimes not, as long as you enjoy what your doing. There's no punishment for relights. I relight my pipe occasionally, no shame in that.
There's no badges for smoking the entire bowl. I stop when I feel through with it, sometimes down to pure white ash, sometimes not, as long as you enjoy what your doing. There's no punishment for relights. I relight my pipe occasionally, no shame in that.
I relight so frequently that I bought stock in the Diamond Match Factory.
It's all about knowing how to pack the bowl and after 40 years I still haven't mastered it!!!
:rofl:
How often do you tend the bowl? Do you spin the tamper a bit as you gently tamp now and then. I find some tobaccos have to be attended to more than others. I prefer to tamp with my finger as I like to feel the tobacco nesting (you will soon get a callus on the finger tips so no mind to the pungent smell of smoldering flesh. Beside, no pain! No gain!). I spin the tamper slowly or turn my finger back and forth as I gently, and I stress gently, tamp. You are stirring the fire as it were, not tamping so hard as to block oxygen to the embers. You do not want the ash, tobacco and embers to tightly knit together.
I find that incorrect tamping is often the cause of not getting a full bowl smoked without numerous relights or the necessity of poking an air hole into the mass of tobacco.
I find that incorrect tamping is often the cause of not getting a full bowl smoked without numerous relights or the necessity of poking an air hole into the mass of tobacco.
Another thing, and Im still fairly new, so I have no idea if this is wise, but i always draw on my pipe while tamping. This helps to stoke the cherry while very gently compressing the tobacco.
Thank y'all for the very kind answers :D.
I want to answer to you all on the same post.
I don't get the re-lighting problem untill the very last bit of the bowl, as for the tamping, well... I am a tamping freak, I tamp like every 5-10 minutes, but very gently, I don't press, just drop the tamper lightly to send the ashes down but I find that if I do not do this I might have to re-light it, otherwise I need constant puffing like every 30 seconds, 45 seconds top. So perhaps the key problem here might be the tobacco being too much compressed? Specially the last bit (the first part you pack). Maybe I am packing it too much, I do believe this might be the real problem here, I always get the impression I packed it too tight, but when I do the draw test it lets air in with not much difficulty. I still have the impression it's the first part of the tobacco that is not compressed as it should, I smoked it on the Peterson 301 today and did not pack it too tight on the first half and it seemed to have worked better but still had the problem where I could not finish it.
It's a shame because I really love to smoke until I get a clear white ash with little to no dottle. But I am thinking about it and could it be humidity in the air? It's been rainning quite a bit here and there is a lot of humidity, like 88% or more, that could also affect it. Or perhaps it's the combination of tight packing with the humidity.
Man I love pipe smoking, everyday we learn something new and even though I am far better at it then I was when I began, I still have a lot to learn and I believe I will die and still not know it all.
I want to answer to you all on the same post.
I don't get the re-lighting problem untill the very last bit of the bowl, as for the tamping, well... I am a tamping freak, I tamp like every 5-10 minutes, but very gently, I don't press, just drop the tamper lightly to send the ashes down but I find that if I do not do this I might have to re-light it, otherwise I need constant puffing like every 30 seconds, 45 seconds top. So perhaps the key problem here might be the tobacco being too much compressed? Specially the last bit (the first part you pack). Maybe I am packing it too much, I do believe this might be the real problem here, I always get the impression I packed it too tight, but when I do the draw test it lets air in with not much difficulty. I still have the impression it's the first part of the tobacco that is not compressed as it should, I smoked it on the Peterson 301 today and did not pack it too tight on the first half and it seemed to have worked better but still had the problem where I could not finish it.
It's a shame because I really love to smoke until I get a clear white ash with little to no dottle. But I am thinking about it and could it be humidity in the air? It's been rainning quite a bit here and there is a lot of humidity, like 88% or more, that could also affect it. Or perhaps it's the combination of tight packing with the humidity.
Man I love pipe smoking, everyday we learn something new and even though I am far better at it then I was when I began, I still have a lot to learn and I believe I will die and still not know it all.
Wait, I have a Savinelli grand prix prince shaped and I did manage to finish a bowl in it the only time I tried with it, the bowl is wider and takes less tobacco then others, I did get a nicotine buzz from it though, I laid down next to my girlfriend and felt like I was going to fall asleep in a moment, it actually felt good. I should dedicate this pipe to it maybe, even though I have been smoking aromatics in it mostly and had to smoke a few bowls to get rid of the latakia. I do not recall if I cleaned it with alcohol though, I don't remember, was like 2 months ago
Ive read alot of people say they like the wider chambers for aros, but for me, it works well with the Nightcap. The extra airflow helps keep it lit I think. And yeah, after a few bowls of english, it wont taste like aros anymore. Glad to hear you got it where you want it.
I smoke Nightcap a lot and only find it a problem if I pack it too tightly. The swirl method works best for me.
I tried the swirl method just for fun once and I used another tobacco for it. Gotta try it on Nightcap.
fadingdaylight I might dedicate that savinelli to it perhaps, even though I'm unsure because I like to smoke Amphora Full Aroma in it, and it tastes really good and I get no bite at all either, and the whole aroma is just emphasized in that pipe, which I dedicated to that tobacco mostly.
fadingdaylight I might dedicate that savinelli to it perhaps, even though I'm unsure because I like to smoke Amphora Full Aroma in it, and it tastes really good and I get no bite at all either, and the whole aroma is just emphasized in that pipe, which I dedicated to that tobacco mostly.
Maybe you're packing the bottom of the bowl too tightly and the top is okay, personally I can usually smoke a bowl of nightcap from light to finish with no problems. You may be tamping too much causing it to become way to compressed at the bottom.
I'm getting the impression that it might be wet at the bottom, or that you suspect moisture. If that's the case, then it could be a few things working against you.
One, check the bottom of the chamber. I don't know anything about Petes, but check to see if the small hole in the bottom of the chamber is at the absolute bottom of the chamber or slightly above it. The Danish style of pipes on bents is to make a small dip below the draw hole, so that moisture will go down into the bottom and free up the draw so that it doesn't gurgle. Nording even sells stones to raise the bottom so that you can smoke all of the tobacco without loosing some to the wetness that pools below these stones. If this is the case with your pipe, then that is just the way of things. You can raise the bottom with mud, but then you'll eventually gurgle. I am in the camp that says that we have the word "dottle" for a reason. If we have a word for it, then it's just ok to leave a bit to be so called.
OK, now what causes moisture in the chamber. Some say that drying the tobacco helps. I am pretty sure that wet tobacco will have the moisture forced out by the fire, into steam that will go up mostly. Very little of this steam will actually go up the draft and then stem, because it will dry as the heat from the fire creeps towards the fresh un burnt tobacco. Sure, some will go into the stem, but this isn't the main source of the moisture in the stem.
There is a specific reaction that occurs in combustion that merges the oxygen to the hydrogen, creating steam as the bi-product of combustion. Even if the tobacco is completely dry, water is formed when it's burned. This is basic chemistry. This steam is completely normal. However, the trick is preventing it from condensing in the stem. Condensing is an unavoidable aspect of the chemistry of smoking also. It works in air conditioning to create cool air, as well as in making alcohol (ever see a moonshine still with those long copper coils?).
The trick is not to force the smoke too fast through the stem. Straight pipes gurgle less than bents, because the smoke moves more easily and unobstructed through the stem. In a bent, you have to smoke even slower. When the smoke is forced, it cools along the inner walls and drips down. If you draw very very slowly, maybe even just let the smoke trickle into your mouth without drawing at all, you'll prevent the moisture from being reduced from the smoke. If it is cold outside, the problem is multiplied. Moonshiners make more potent alcohol by cooling the coils in small mountain streams. Cool air on a pipe does the same thing.
My suggestion is to learn to clench. I do this by not ever drawing on the stem after I get it lit. Just allow the pipe to smoke itself. Some say that as you breath deeply through your nose it makes your mouth gullet and slowly, gently draw in some smoke, and then just let it drift out on its own. I never blow out smoke. Growing up pipe men just never made smoke. Their pipes just hung on their pis and the smoke was minimal. This is just how I learned to do it. In fact if we ever saw someone making a lot of smoke we just thought that they were kids playing with pipes, lol. But, there is no one right and wrong. And, there ain't nothing wrong with playing. Just sayin'.
Another idea is if you just have to have a bent pipe, try a dry-system pipe, so that the moisture will get trapped into the well drilled into the stummel. The biggest drawback on this style is that if you ever tip the pipe, that nasty water will fill your bowl anyways.
OK, I've written a novel, lol. Sorry, my 2 cents buys a lot of words, ha ha!!
Happy smoking...
One, check the bottom of the chamber. I don't know anything about Petes, but check to see if the small hole in the bottom of the chamber is at the absolute bottom of the chamber or slightly above it. The Danish style of pipes on bents is to make a small dip below the draw hole, so that moisture will go down into the bottom and free up the draw so that it doesn't gurgle. Nording even sells stones to raise the bottom so that you can smoke all of the tobacco without loosing some to the wetness that pools below these stones. If this is the case with your pipe, then that is just the way of things. You can raise the bottom with mud, but then you'll eventually gurgle. I am in the camp that says that we have the word "dottle" for a reason. If we have a word for it, then it's just ok to leave a bit to be so called.
OK, now what causes moisture in the chamber. Some say that drying the tobacco helps. I am pretty sure that wet tobacco will have the moisture forced out by the fire, into steam that will go up mostly. Very little of this steam will actually go up the draft and then stem, because it will dry as the heat from the fire creeps towards the fresh un burnt tobacco. Sure, some will go into the stem, but this isn't the main source of the moisture in the stem.
There is a specific reaction that occurs in combustion that merges the oxygen to the hydrogen, creating steam as the bi-product of combustion. Even if the tobacco is completely dry, water is formed when it's burned. This is basic chemistry. This steam is completely normal. However, the trick is preventing it from condensing in the stem. Condensing is an unavoidable aspect of the chemistry of smoking also. It works in air conditioning to create cool air, as well as in making alcohol (ever see a moonshine still with those long copper coils?).
The trick is not to force the smoke too fast through the stem. Straight pipes gurgle less than bents, because the smoke moves more easily and unobstructed through the stem. In a bent, you have to smoke even slower. When the smoke is forced, it cools along the inner walls and drips down. If you draw very very slowly, maybe even just let the smoke trickle into your mouth without drawing at all, you'll prevent the moisture from being reduced from the smoke. If it is cold outside, the problem is multiplied. Moonshiners make more potent alcohol by cooling the coils in small mountain streams. Cool air on a pipe does the same thing.
My suggestion is to learn to clench. I do this by not ever drawing on the stem after I get it lit. Just allow the pipe to smoke itself. Some say that as you breath deeply through your nose it makes your mouth gullet and slowly, gently draw in some smoke, and then just let it drift out on its own. I never blow out smoke. Growing up pipe men just never made smoke. Their pipes just hung on their pis and the smoke was minimal. This is just how I learned to do it. In fact if we ever saw someone making a lot of smoke we just thought that they were kids playing with pipes, lol. But, there is no one right and wrong. And, there ain't nothing wrong with playing. Just sayin'.
Another idea is if you just have to have a bent pipe, try a dry-system pipe, so that the moisture will get trapped into the well drilled into the stummel. The biggest drawback on this style is that if you ever tip the pipe, that nasty water will fill your bowl anyways.
OK, I've written a novel, lol. Sorry, my 2 cents buys a lot of words, ha ha!!
Happy smoking...
Wolf:
You've received a graduate degree in pipe smoking with this post.
Just enjoy the tobacco, pal. That's what most of us are here for anyway.
Most of my bowls get four relights and I could give a flying flip.
Fnord
You've received a graduate degree in pipe smoking with this post.
Just enjoy the tobacco, pal. That's what most of us are here for anyway.
Most of my bowls get four relights and I could give a flying flip.
Fnord
I've found that any tobacco that tends not to burn to the bottom needs a bit more drying (open the can for a while) and, don't tamp it very much, leave it loose in the bowl....
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