Smoking Slowly, What Does That Mean Really?

[mtwaller]

I’m still new to pipe smoking and trying to figure out my cadence. When I first started smoking a pipe I would take longer draws, with little force, and less frequently. Something like a gentle .5-1 second draw every 5 or 6 seconds. Then I tried the breath smoking technique which is great for flavor and relaxing, but for the life of me I couldn’t keep my bowls lit. Lately I’ve been doing shorter rapid puffs at a fairly constant pace. I think all methods have their merit, it’s whatever works best for you. Much experimentation is required to find that sweet spot. Personally I wish I could make it through half or a whole bowl by breath smoking, but it doesn’t work for me yet. Hopefully one day with practice I’ll get it down. I have noticed that the shorter rapid puff cadence has helped with my gurgle issues in some pipes. For whatever reason by smoking this way, pipes that used to gurgle a bit have stopped doing so. Same tobacco, same pack, same everything. So in short just mess around until you find what gives you the best results and don’t mind what everyone else thinks about it. I’m sure if half the members saw me smoke a bowl in person they’d tell me I’m going too fast, producing too much smoke, etc. Just find what will give you the most enjoyment. If your goal is to make it through a whole bowl with no relights and that would make you happiest, find a cadence to accomplish it. If your greatest enjoyment is from finding the flavors, find what cadence helps you do that. If your goal is to be so relaxed that your eyes roll back in your head, maybe try breath smoking. I haven’t been able to do all 3 at the same time yet, I’m still tinkering to find “my” cadence...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Smoking slowly, slowing down to savor the thin wispy smoke, and relaxing into the pipe, are usually key for most pipe smokers in pulling as much enjoyment as possible out of smoking. And, this is usually the fix for about 75% of questions brought to the forum. But, there are no rules to all of this, and even the most skilled smoker is going to fluctuate from breath smoking to some random wisps, given mood, activities, or whatever forces of nature are at whim. There are no hardfast rules.
My local B&M encourages all of it's customers to participate in the annual slow smoker contest at the pipe show, and this was a great way for me to remain focused on my technique, and it taught me to savor the smoke, slow down, and just enjoy it. I would focus on making a bowl last as long as possible. All day, one right after another, I focused on drawing my smoke out as long as possible. And, it benefits me today, although, I admit, if someone comes into my studio with a challenge, a problem with my kids, or my wife has something on her mind, or a difficult creative problem with a client... I might puff a little harder, faster. But, it is not a habit that I fight. I just have to take hold, and consciously make myself slow down again.
How slow is slow enough? This is where I think my practice at slow smoking and breath smoking benefited me. You have to just learn this for yourself. How slow can you go, and keep the lights on inside the bowl? Learn to dance the edge of the abyss of the pipe going out. This is best learned from experience. Even if you live in the most remote parts of the world, with no one around you for miles, no pipe club, no pipe shows close by, you can still practice as if you wanted to be a contender.
I'm not really interested in competing any more, but I still keep in shape by consciously practicing.
Never, ever, ever has the thought run through my mind that I wanted to hurry up and finish the bowl, or "I'd rather be doing something else," passed through my mind, never. If one doesn't have the time to smoke a pipe, then my first suggestion would be to find another hobby... not to be rude, but really, you can't go into pipe smoking thinking it is a fast way to catch some nicotine in 15 minute intervals. This is why cigarettes have ruled for decades now. You have to make some changes to work pipe smoking in, if you want to be a pipe smoker. YMMV

 

[tjsgarden]

The words gentle, soft, calm, attentive, relaxed, reflective, focused, etc. fit how I smoke. There is a mostly slower rhythm and pace that I enjoy. Eighty percent of my puffs are just small whiffs or sips of smoke. The other 20% are longer puffs that I hold in my mouth for a longer period of time. Occasionally, I breath smoke and retro inhale just to experience the tobacco in a fresh manner.

I almost always hold the pipe with my hand while puffing. I move the mouthpiece to both sides and the middle of my mouth. This keeps me more focused and allows the smoke to interact with different areas of my tongue.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Wouldn't necessarily say very long draws. For me, smoking slowly is not about how long a draw I take, since I mix it up from time to time. Most of the time I'm breathe smoking anyway in a relaxed state so that I'm breathing long and deep. When I need a little more puffing to keep it lit, I'll puff a little quicker, but a lot of the times, I just let it go out. It's nothing to relight it.
For me, it's more about tasting the blend. I'm not just smoking to smoke. I take in all the aroma and the flavors from the tobacco blends I smoke. The faster you try to smoke them, you begin to lose those subtleties from the blend. It also gets hotter, which contributes to losing those gentle flavors. Most blends just taste better when taking it low and slow, just like roasting meat. If you cook it too high and fast, you will end up with a tough meat-like substance that's burnt on the outside, and not quite done in the middle.

 

[hawky454]

I smoke for flavor and what works for me is to actually smoke a pipe and get, you guessed it... SMOKE. I’ve tried playing around (for a long time) with barley letting it simmer and barely getting any smoke and it’s just a tease to me, I barely get any flavor, if any at all and I certainly don’t get any nicotine that way, you have to keep all focus on your pipe or else it will constantly go out, it’s just not my cup of tea and speaking of tea, I like my tea strong, just like my smoke. Smoke a pipe the way it works best for you. Just don’t go thinking that you ain’t a real pipe smoker unless you barely get a whisper of smoke from the pipe. Go watch a London Calling YouTube video, he films a lot of the British Pipe shows, watch how the Brits smoke a pipe, I guarantee you’ll see plenty of smoke. I still consider what I do “sipping” but I get more smoke than just a thin whisper, I’m certainly not puffing on it like a freight train but once I get my pipe lit, that’s it, it’s going to smoke all the way down without having to relight it 50 times. In the end, just do what works best for you, if getting just a whisper fits your fancy then by all means, smoke it like a princess.... kidding, kidding... I know all you pipe whisperers out there are real manly men!

 

[sablebrush52]

I don't keep all of my attention on my pipe when smoking in the manner that I've described. I've done it for so long that it's just natural, barely takes any effort. Mostly I'll smoke the bowl down to the end without a relight. And if the pipes goes out every now and then, so what?
There are a lot of ways and levels to enjoying a pipe. Find yours.

 

[warren]

Like many here, I've smoked enough that I'm no longer fascinated by it. It's second nature and there is no way to teach that. As "The Bard of Barlings" writes, "Find yours." I'd add, "Quit trying to emulate all the others, you'll just end up frustrated and confused." Pipe smoking is not, generally, a competition! There are the "slow smoke" competitions. I prefer my competitions to be a bit more physical. Perhaps if the competitors had to rassle, Greco-Roman style, as they smoked slow.

 

[skaukatt]

Think rhythm and cadence; nice easy puffs, not necessarily looooong puffs but more about the rhythm of your puffing, what I call cadence. Experience has taught me that to derive the fullest flavor, especially from Virginia and VaPer blends, a nice slow cadence will reward me with wonderful flavor and enjoyment.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

hawky + a bunch. Well said.

 

[hawky454]

hawky + a bunch. Well said.

Why thank you, sir. I was expecting a bunch of hate mail over that post. I just like to argue with the pipe whisperers of the forums but it’s all in good fun.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I might note that cadence can be misunderstood to the detriment of an enjoyable smoke. To me, it doesn't mean rhythmic, even puffs every 4.8 seconds. Sometimes deep longer pulls are needed. Sometimes a tiny sip or three. Sometimes a series of rapid medium puffs are needed to stoke up the ember, etc. YMMV.

 

[Idahojoe]

Simply put, my own cadence is bowl specific -with the singular goal of keeping it lit yet not too hot to hold. ?

 

[rushx9]

I came across "smoke slowly" 1000 times here and there. My take on is very long and slow draws, is that right?? In videos however, I see people taking short and consecutive puffs

I used to struggle with this... I tried short puffs and slow draws and it was either still too fast or my pipe went out after every few puffs. Then one day I was successful. Too me, slow smoking means letting the smoke slowly trickle into your mouth without actually drawing on the pipe consciously. Occasionally puffing gently to keep it lit, but trying to let the pipe "smoke itself" as much as possible. The flavors come from moisture distilling from the tobacco rather than the smoke from combustion. This graphic taught me a lot but it didn't make sense til I had an epiphany smoke with Standard Mixture Mellow where the best flavor rolled out and I couldn't tell whether or not the pipe was even lit anymore.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I'm a puffer. Always had been, always will be. I've developed my technique to avoid tongue bite and still get flavor. I just never enjoyed smoking my pipe "low and slow"

 

[anotherbob]

I came across "smoke slowly" 1000 times here and there. My take on is very long and slow draws, is that right?? In videos however, I see people taking short and consecutive puffs

calling it a long sip has helped me the most. No need for perfection, any improvement makes it more fun.

 

[brooklynpipeclub]

The 'breath technique' affords me the best results - best flavor, no bite, a cool smoke, and a meditative mental state. Just breathe normally in a relaxed manner through your nose while keeping the stem of your pipe in your mouth, opening your mouth every few breaths to let the delicious wisps of smoke escape. Of course you do have to draw slowly on your pipe to light the tobacco but once the bowl is going there is no active draw on the pipe. I came across this video that I find explains and illustrates my experience well. Starting at 5:00:

 

[Worknman]

I've never understood the purpose of sending smoke back into the pipe with the breath method. It seems to only heat the pipe up even more when I do it. I dont see how its supposed to cool the pipe when you're sending warm moist air back into the pipe and re-heating the ember at the same time.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've never understood the purpose of sending smoke back into the pipe with the breath method. It seems to only heat the pipe up even more when I do it. I dont see how its supposed to cool the pipe when you're sending warm moist air back into the pipe and re-heating the ember at the same time.

Not back into the pipe, mostly working the smoke back and forth in the shank.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Just watched the above video. That guy's pushing the smoke back with every breath. Surprised he hasn't either burned his tongue off or caused a burnout.

 

[krizzose]

Keeping a pipe lit is not a problem for me anymore. That being said, I couldn’t care less if it goes out occasionally. I do like the occasional deeper draw to get a bigger puff of smoke, but I just try to regulate the average temperature so I avoid any puff, large or small, being hot, steamy, ashy, bitter, or otherwise unpleasant. If that means putting the pipe down for a bit if I managed to push it too far, so be it.