Round 3 of My Questions and a Thank You

[mopreme187]

Hi, First off i want to say thank you again for my earlier questions, my first few pipe bowls were lacking and thought it wasn't going to be for me, but i stuck with it, reading post on here, and my last 2 bowls have been great, i dried my tobacco out for 24 hours, until it was not wet. the flavour was sooooo nice, a mild burn to my mouth which made the flavour so much more. i felt satisfied after as well, didn't need to RYO after.
as for my questions.
1] I want to buy a falcon but there are 3 different mouthpieces. dental, multipurpose, or standard. can someone show me some info on the different mouth pieces?
2] this may sound daft, but how do i know how much tobacco i have left in my pipe, i try looking but im not sure whats tobacco or ash. so does the taste change, or does it just come with time and knowing your pipes.
3] drying out my tobacco has changed my smoking for the better, but do you dry out a who jar of the tobacco or just enough for a day or 2 worth of smoking?
4] apart from air drying, is there any other methods to dry tobacco quickly if needed?
thanks again, my journey to give up the RYOs and convert to pipes is going well and i give all the credit to this forum

 

[cosmicfolklore]

1. unless you have dentures, you want the "standard."

2. I sometimes will know when I taste ash. But, you will just have to use your judgement.

3. I dry out the whole tin or jar, but I will have it smoked within a week. If it will take you loger than a year to smoke a jar, then you may want to just dry out what you need, when you need it. But, for me it seems stupid to continually be drying out tobacco all day. Especially when farmers keep their tobaccos fresh by keeping them dry, and at the worst drying tobacco gets rid of the casings taste, which gives you more of a pure tobacco taste. Win/win, right?

4. Microwave, coffee mug warmer, a blow dryer, the dashboard of a car on a hot day, under a light bulb, etc...

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

+1 to Cosmic. He's pretty much hit it all.
I will add that drying out the tobacco quantity you want, is really up to you and how much you currently smoke or will smoke. For me, it also depends on the cut of the tobacco. If it's a plug, I may cut the plug in half, then slice that and dry it to where I like mine, then toss the other half of the plug in a jar to keep it fresh while tossing the dry into the the tin for easy access. I don't smoke them too fast, so I like to keep at least half around semi-moist. I can always dry more out later. If it's a ribbon or shag, depending on the moisture level when I pop it, I might dump it all out on a plate and let it dry out for a good while. As long as it doesn't get too crispy, I'll dump it back into it's tin after some fair drying. Again, it all depends on the cut and type for me. The humidity here in NC is crazy and almost never get tobacco to the point of crispy no matter how hard you try, so that's never really been an issue for me. Sometimes, they just won't dry out very much in a bulk heap, so I get them close, jar them up and then I can sprinkle out a bowl or two for my day to get them closer to my ideal moisture level.
As far as a quicker method, I keep a small desk fan around and will load up a plate of tobacco to dry and then place the plate under the air. Gotta make sure it doesn't blow it out of the pan though, but a little stir here and there, pinching it together until it no longer clumps and it's good. Also provides a very nice air freshener to the house. I used to dry my Englishes out at the office when needed, but no longer. I now only do aros or really nice smelling tobaccos here. The Country Squire Second Breakfast and my Nording Labrador are pretty big hits. Everyone keeps saying they smell maple syrup. So there's a win.

 

[jpmcwjr]

If you remove a layer of ash or two or three, you'll see either tobacco or more ash in the heel of the chamber.

 

[crashthegrey]

There is a really good video about how to dry your tobacco in the microwave.

 

[blackadderlxx]

I love my falcon. Definitely get the standard mouthpiece.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Look in the bowl. At some point, you'll start to recognize by the level whether you've mostly smoked the tobacco or not. For that matter, at some point, your experience/feel will tell you whether you've smoked most of the tobacco or not. If you're consistently emptying your pipe and half the tobacco isn't smoked, that's not good. If you're emptying your pipe and there is a little bit of dottle left over, that isn't bad and some would consider it good.

 

[lawdawg]

There is a really good video about how to dry your tobacco in the microwave.

:rofl: That was truly an odd thread, and an odd youtube video

 

[bluto]

My pipe went out today after a nice relaxing 30 minute smoke
And yes , there was a little unburnt tobac in the well
Big wup

 

[dottiewarden]

I often toss the last 1/4 bowl. I just enjoy the smoke 'til I put the pipe down, finished or not. Plenty of relights too. Just don't feel the need to smoke each bowl down to a fine white ash on a single match.

 

[bluto]

The stuff on the bottom is kinda wet anyway , toss it out

 

[jpmcwjr]

IFthe stuff on the bottom is kinda wet anyway, toss it out.

I added the "if". There's no need to have wet tobacco in the heel. Not regularly, anyway.

 

[bluto]

The ennerdale had a lot of moisture , filled up the balsa filter and a soggy mass in the bottom

 

[jpmcwjr]

So, it's too moist going in. Some tobaccos are packed way wet and need a lot of drying before loading.

 

[techie]

I dry what I'm going to smoke under a light bulb. Only takes between 5 to 20 minutes depending on moisture level and cut. A really wet aro might take longer. This method works really well for me. But don't lose track of time. I once forgot one and 30 minutes made it very crunchy to the point of breaking up when I picked it up with my fingers.

 

[mso489]

Your tamper will tell you a lot about where you are with a bowl of tobacco, both the level and if there is viable leaf left, if taste hasn't already clued you in. Don't pack down hard with the tamper. Go gently and feel what the status of the bowl is. Usually you can tell if you have a relight or two left or if it's time to scoop.