Smoking outdoors and the effect of weather conditions

[coys]

I now live in a climate where we get some cooler temps outdoors, and it's been down to the 30s and 40s some evenings recently. Winter typically is in the 20s and 30s, and relatively dry in terms of humidity.

I have found some interesting phenomena recently where some tobaccos seem unaffected, and some seem to do very well in the cold and dry air. It makes me wonder how many issues with burn rate, relighting, and dampness could be put down to the humidity in the air and not our techniques.

How do you find that the variations in seasons and conditions affect the way your pipe smokes?

 

[rick3wood]

No offense, but I’m not smoking outside when the temp is that low

 

[Sigmund]

I think the breeze makes a difference but not cold. Chances are good that you are freezing your butt off and smoking faster.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

I now live in a climate where we get some cooler temps outdoors, and it's been down to the 30s and 40s some evenings recently. Winter typically is in the 20s and 30s, and relatively dry in terms of humidity.

I have found some interesting phenomena recently where some tobaccos seem unaffected, and some seem to do very well in the cold and dry air. It makes me wonder how many issues with burn rate, relighting, and dampness could be put down to the humidity in the air and not our techniques.

How do you find that the variations in seasons and conditions affect the way your pipe smokes?

You kinda answered your own question there: it's the dryness in winter that helps a lot of blends smoke better.

I think most people underestimate how good a tobacco that's deemed "a little too dry" can taste; I guess, that's just another way of saying most people need to dry their tobacco more!

This also explains why a lot of people (myself included) believe that perique and latakia blends smoke better in the winter time!

- - -

No offense, but I’m not smoking outside when the temp is that low

There is no bad weather, just bad choice of clothing!

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

LOL, we'll have days where the high is zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower, talk about effects!

Seriously, I had to abandon my beloved smoking lounge (deck) a couple of weeks ago - it faces north and in the shade of the house and once the outside temps hit lower 50s I'm done. But, I do take a pipe on walks out in the wild in the winter.

Colder weather has all sorts of relative issues - wind, cold, combo of wind/cold can affect how fast I smoke, whether my nose is running, lol, and affecting my taste, and on and on. Apples to apples I don't see differences in tobaccos that are the same level of moisture in terms of how they burn, but if it's pretty cold I'll select something a little "stronger" in flavor - a lot of aros seem to sort of disappear when it's really cold, for me anyway, so a rich, pure VA is a good one when I'm walking in the winter, but oddly Grousemoor and similar blends work pretty well out in the wild for me and I like the taste better on the "prairie" than sitting on my deck or (now) in the garage.

Just have to experiment and adapt!

 

[Sigmund]

Im fixing a little seating area in the basement. Its ugly but not cold. Most the time I can smoke outside all year long.

 

[coys]

LOL, we'll have days where the high is zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower, talk about effects!

Well, if you're in the Hawkeye state I've spent parts of my life in the state north of you and the country north of that as well, and 30s-40s F doesn't bother me too much. At least not for as long as a trip to the front porch with a pipe would be, provided the wind isn't howling. I still welcome any chance to get outside even if it's not spring

 

[FLDRD]

I now live in a climate where we get some cooler temps outdoors, and it's been down to the 30s and 40s some evenings recently. Winter typically is in the 20s and 30s, and relatively dry in terms of humidity.

I have found some interesting phenomena recently where some tobaccos seem unaffected, and some seem to do very well in the cold and dry air. It makes me wonder how many issues with burn rate, relighting, and dampness could be put down to the humidity in the air and not our techniques.

How do you find that the variations in seasons and conditions affect the way your pipe smokes?

Significantly.

 

[trouttimes]

I love my evening smoke on the back deck in the cold. English blends rule the nite. Just learn to wear the proper clothes.

 

[warren]

How do you find that the variations in seasons and conditions affect the way your pipe smokes?

If there is a difference, it's not significant enough for me to notice.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If there is a difference, it's not significant enough for me to notice.

Beat me to it.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Well, if you're in the Hawkeye state I've spent parts of my life in the state north of you and the country north of that as well, and 30s-40s F doesn't bother me too much. At least not for as long as a trip to the front porch with a pipe would be, provided the wind isn't howling. I still welcome any chance to get outside even if it's not spring

You are braver than I am! No issues with cold walking, especially if I'm following one of my dogs in pursuit of something, but just to go on the porch? Nope - that's why I had a garage heater installed two years ago!

 

[sardonicus87]

I find that English (lat) blends taste the same in winter as they do in summer, it's just that I prefer my English to be heavier, and I don't want heavier stuff when it's hot.

Right now, the thing on my porch says the RH is 86%. That's just for reference how humid it is where I live. But it's also been raining all night and may rain more today, and it's 72° right now (high today is 76° I think). Though without the rain, I am sure RH would be closer to 35-40%.

I haven't noticed anything tasting different based on temperature. I have noticed when the humidity is up, the pipe seems to want to smoke wetter and go out more. Like when the humidity is down, I notice far less dottle and the dottle that is there, if there is any, is dry and loose rather than lightly cemented into a puck stuck to the bottom.

But humidity is the only thing I have noticed having an effect outdoors (which is where I smoke exclusively), and it only effects how wet the tobacco smokes/stays and how likely the pipe is to stay lit, hasn't affected flavor for me. But even in high humidity, I usually don't have to relight more than 2 times (not counting the initial lighting), and I don't dry my tobaccos at all unless they're like, sopping wet.

Obviously if there's wind, that would affect things like burning hotter/faster.

 

[didimauw]

It gets so humid here in Wisconsin. Some days my 3 day old dry stale tobacco, gets fully rehydrated while trying to smoke. Ruining the whole drying process for me. I like smoking when it's raining outside, but the humidity makes my crumbly crunchy perfect tobacco gurgle half way down

 

[sardonicus87]

Smoking right now (Sutliff Maple Shadows, aro) in this, tobacco had no dry time before loading. 1/4 of of the way through the bowl and everything still normal, tastes the same, not any harder to smoke than yesterday when the humidity was 30%:


Edit:
Now 1/3 of the way through and it's starting to gurgle, which it didn't do yesterday at all, still otherwise smoking the same as it did yesterday, not and harder or easier and not tasting any different, and now having to hit my first re-light.

 

[OzPiper]

Luckily Sydney, Oz has a temperate climate
Daytime winter temperatures rarely get below 12centigrade. Warm clothing and a small heater is all that’s needed
It’s the heat of summer (>30centigrade days) that is a spoiler

Luckily my front porch provides plenty of shelter and privacy from neighbours
My back patio is not enclosed, so using matches is more difficult. But not insurmountable

 

[Hutch Piper]

I love smoking my pipe in the cold weather with a nice warm cup of coffee!

 

[sardonicus87]

This is the only difference with the humidity I noticed, see how wet it is down in the bottom? It's usually not quite that wet, even with this same blend. If the humidity is low enough, it'll look almost dry at the end. Still only one re-light and it took 45 minutes to smoke that bowl, which for me is the same amount of time it takes to smoke the same stuff in this same pipe, even when I was smoking it in the garage at 55°F and 32-35% RH.

In neither case did it seem to smoke hotter, better or worse, etc... only difference is wetness from near the mid-point on.

I think if you pack a little too much, tamp a little too heavy, etc, then the whether changes probably exacerbate those things resulting in a more difficult or different smoke—like if you're already at the edge of or close to over tamping, over packing, etc, then increasing temp or humidity might push over that edge. But if you're within safe margins of technique, you shouldn't notice any difference beyond the amount of wetness at the end.

 

[bullet08]

Weather doesn't really make much difference. Unless it's pouring cats and dogs. Or heavy snow. Then I do dry out my pipe often while smoking. Dryness has less issues. But, it's your technique that is more important than the weather. And make sure to keep animal control number handy in case it rains cats and dogs.

 

[Epip Oc'Cabot]

Haha! 20s or 30s as LOWS?!?! How about -20 degrees… which is common in my neck of the woods in January?

What I notice about cooler weather… at least for me… is that burleys seem to have a “sweeter” flavor to them in that coldness. I quite like it, and it is helpful when cannot do a damn thing about the outdoor temperatures in winter.