Relighting

[OwlTellYa]

I've read through a lot of the older threads here on relighting, but I am still having some trouble. I have been smoking a tobacco blend from a local cigar shop--I don't know exactly what it is but it smells of light vanilla so an aromatic. In the first week of smoking this blend I got terrible tongue bite. After reading, etc., I have learned what that's all about. I have slowed down and sip slower. But now I have a problem with having to relight very frequently. It seems that if I sip lightly, I have to relight many many times in a single bowl. If I pull more strongly to keep it lit, I get tongue bite. I haven't found that middle ground yet. Is this normal? Any tips?

By the way, I have tried drying out the tobacco by leaving it out in a bowl for an hour or so, although the tobacco doesn't seem to me very wet to begin with. I have also tried a different pipe with this tobacco (a corn cob) with the same issue.k It's not been very windy or humid outside on the deck where I've been smoking this. Etc.

I should also note I've been experimenting with packing my pipe. I do think I packed too tightly at first, but after watching some videos I am packing it looser now.

 

[bassbug]

Don't sweat the relights. It's just a matter of a little fiddling around with finding the right packing and cadence for YOU. What worked for me was making sure the initial light covered the entire diameter of the bowl. Fromthere, the cadence was pretty easy to figure out. YMMV.

 

[proteus]

Packing too tight. Let gravity fill the bowl. Press slightly. Check draw compared to empty pipe. Some resistance. Very little. Fill again. Press a bit more. Same check. Fill a third time. Then you need to draw flame from above by drawing in. Get all tobacco charred. Let go out. Then tamp lightly. Relight. Enjoy.

 

[Epip Oc'Cabot]

I would say, especially for an aromatic ….. a LOT more drying will usually help. I would suggest an experiment….. take an amount of this leaf that would be a typical fill for your pipe…. let it air dry for two days…. then try it and see if there isn’t a helluva lot of improvement. I suspect there will be…… but if you feel the flavor is diminished (may or may not be)…. then on subsequent bowls dry a little bit less on each until you reach nirvana.

 

[LuckyGlenn]

I agree with everybody else. I would constantly get tongue bite and have frequently relits until I learned how to dry my tobacco and pack looser. Also don't forget tamp.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

I'll pile on....relights are normal. You can definitely dry out the tobacco and/or lightly pack the bowl. Experiment with each bowl. Take some tobacco and loosely pack it and see if that helps, if not, try drying the next portion to the point where it's almost crispy. That SHOULD help with lowering the amount of relights, but regardless, relights are a part of pipe smoking, so don't worry about them.

Sidenote: on a couple of my areos when I 1st get them, I've dumped them out on a cookie sheet and put a paper towel over it and let it sit for a good day or 3...checking it periodically.

Another sidenote: I cracked a tin of Molto Dolce about 3 years ago and never put it in a jar (still in it's tin), and it still has a bit of moisture to it.

 

[Papamique]

Make sure the WHOLE top of tobacco is charred or blackened before a final light.

I toast the top of the bowl of tobacco a few times to make sure it is all black. I then let it go out, puff out of bowl, tamp, final light of ENTIRE top of the tobacco.

I light my pipe the same way I light my cigars.

 

[OverMountain]

Make sure the WHOLE top of tobacco is charred or blackened before a final light.

I toast the top of the bowl of tobacco a few times to make sure it is all black. I then let it go out, puff out of bowl, tamp, final light of ENTIRE top of the tobacco.

I light my pipe the same way I light my cigars.

I like your technique!

 

[AJL67]

Rule number 1 never talk about Fight Club
Rule number 2 dry tobacco more than you think you should
Rule number 3 load the bowl with less tobacco than you think you should
Rule number 4 try not to over think things like relights and tamping
Rule number 5 there are no rules
Rule number 6 is from David Lee Roth, never sweat the small shit and it's all small shit.
Eventually it will all become second nature, everyone is different, some people figure it out in 5 bowls, some in 10, some in 20 some in 50, there is no rush no one is timing or critiquing you.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Do tamp to much or to tight, you should ONLY tamp if you can't the pipe relit. And only enough to settle the ash, the weight of an aluminum pipe nail should be sufficient with no pressure to settle the ash.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Rule number 6 is from David Lee Roth, never sweat the small shit and it's all small shit.

Just don't try to smoke the bowl full of brown M&Ms.

 

[AJL67]

Just don't try to smoke the bowl full of brown M&Ms.

It's all small shit when your a multi-millionaire rocker. I had a boss that was also a very well known studio musician, Robby Kilgore look him up he's an interesting guy, he would tell us stores during our design team meetings about different studio sessions and famous rockers, one day he told us about handing out with Roth in NY city and after partying till like 4am they were staggering down the street and cops pulled up to them and realized it was David Lee Roth and offered to drive them back to their hotel, so they were hammered in the back of this cop car and throwing lit firecrackers out the windows at the hookers as they drove down the street. LOL

Fun fact, in Madonna's song Borderline .. that's Robby playing the keyboard in that overly repetitive hook.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Lots of good advice has already been given. I'll add that smoking a pipe comes with a learning curve. It takes lots of experimentation, lots of "fiddling" as you go to find what works for you. I would only adjust one thing at a time though. Try completely charring the top on your initial light, keep your packing the same. If that doesn't do it, try loading a different amount in the pipe and charring as usual. If that's still not working, then try tamping differently. We always say Your Milage May Vary, you just have to get your varying mileage dialed in. It takes time and experience.

I also want to echo that relights really don't matter. There's not a prize for smoking to ash on one light, the pipe police won't kick in your door for 25 relights in a MM Morgan. As long as you're enjoying smoking your pipe, you're doing it right. Read JimInk's reviews and you'll see a variant of "average number of relights" in most of them.

 

[FLDRD]

What worked for me was moving on to better tobacco and learning the delights of a light to medium English as a "beginner" blend.

EVERYTHING changed for the better and it's only improved and I now enjoy a variety of quality styles.

Well actually, I got there via Carter Hall first. Having something that smoldered nicely and cooperated was the big eye opener...

 

[kcghost]

When a pipe needs to be relit then relight it. It has no effect on the quality of your smoke. No need to get worked up over this. It isn't any problem.

 

[tobakenist]

Tamping is the key, also make sure your tobacco isn't to moist.

 

[gervais]

I've read through a lot of the older threads here on relighting, but I am still having some trouble. I have been smoking a tobacco blend from a local cigar shop--I don't know exactly what it is but it smells of light vanilla so an aromatic. In the first week of smoking this blend I got terrible tongue bite. After reading, etc., I have learned what that's all about. I have slowed down and sip slower. But now I have a problem with having to relight very frequently. It seems that if I sip lightly, I have to relight many many times in a single bowl. If I pull more strongly to keep it lit, I get tongue bite. I haven't found that middle ground yet. Is this normal? Any tips?

By the way, I have tried drying out the tobacco by leaving it out in a bowl for an hour or so, although the tobacco doesn't seem to me very wet to begin with. I have also tried a different pipe with this tobacco (a corn cob) with the same issue.k It's not been very windy or humid outside on the deck where I've been smoking this. Etc.

I should also note I've been experimenting with packing my pipe. I do think I packed too tightly at first, but after watching some videos I am packing it looser now.

Perhaps this will make you feel better brother:

Every single bowl of tobacco I burn, I will end up relighting 15 times or greater. That also is because I'll puff for a few min, then put pipe down for a while.
A bowl of Best brown flake I had the other day I probably had to relight 15-20 times.

 

[woodsroad]

"Dry" is relative, like the humidity. Most tobacco does best in the range just before "crispy". It should still have some flex to it, just shy of crumbling to dust. Many tobaccos, especially aromatics, have propylene glycol added to them as a humectant, and they may never dry out. Don't expect tobacco to dry out at all in humid weather. I left some McClelland 2015 flake out to dry on the deck table (under an umbrella) and it actually got more moist!

 

[AJL67]

"Dry" is relative, like the humidity. Most tobacco does best in the range just before "crispy". It should still have some flex to it, just shy of crumbling to dust. Many tobaccos, especially aromatics, have propylene glycol added to them as a humectant, and they may never dry out. Don't expect tobacco to dry out at all in humid weather. I left some McClelland 2015 flake out to dry on the deck table (under an umbrella) and it actually got more moist!

I got to the point where I'll pinch some and then judge by the "clump" level, all personal preference but i've found my happy zone and it works for me.

 

[anotherbob]

I've read through a lot of the older threads here on relighting, but I am still having some trouble. I have been smoking a tobacco blend from a local cigar shop--I don't know exactly what it is but it smells of light vanilla so an aromatic. In the first week of smoking this blend I got terrible tongue bite. After reading, etc., I have learned what that's all about. I have slowed down and sip slower. But now I have a problem with having to relight very frequently. It seems that if I sip lightly, I have to relight many many times in a single bowl. If I pull more strongly to keep it lit, I get tongue bite. I haven't found that middle ground yet. Is this normal? Any tips?

By the way, I have tried drying out the tobacco by leaving it out in a bowl for an hour or so, although the tobacco doesn't seem to me very wet to begin with. I have also tried a different pipe with this tobacco (a corn cob) with the same issue.k It's not been very windy or humid outside on the deck where I've been smoking this. Etc.

I should also note I've been experimenting with packing my pipe. I do think I packed too tightly at first, but after watching some videos I am packing it looser now.

for blends that act like that for me (Mixture 79, which is amazing by the way) I just gravity fill and only push back into the chamber the tiny bits that stick out over the edge but don't tamp or pack it in. It's amazing how much better it smokes for me to do that with certain blends. The way I put it the tricks with pipe smoking are just about making it easy and not a fight to enjoy the pipe. Might be worth checking out. Also sometimes giving a few hours of dry time with some blends seem more like an act of magic then physics.