Smoking Your Bowl Down

[OverMountain]

Sherlock Holmes kept his unburnt dottle and resmoked it. I would not recommend being like Sherlock Holmes on this one.

Chuck it out and go get some more.

 

[anotherbob]

If you really really want to smoke as much as possible and have as little dottle as possible, the two things that help the most is packing so that there is almost nothing on the bottom. How I get that is to gravity fill the pipe up to the last third of the upper chamber and then only pack that third by hand. The other is the drier the tobacco is to start the less goopy dottle. Though the first step honestly seems to have the greater effect. But there is no point in smoking every bit of tobacco. You probably drop more tobacco on the ground packing your pipe then you loss by tossing the skraggy bottom garbage.

 

[Briar Tuck]

Sherlock Holmes kept his unburnt dottle and resmoked it. I would not recommend being like Sherlock Holmes on this one.

Chuck it out and go get some more.

Unless you're in Australia.

 

[Val]

Hi guys

As of recently I stumbled a few times over the same problem: when smoking down the bowl completely I get a sour, acrid taste, that is kind of ashy. I thought about it but I am not able to figure out what i am doing wrong. I am a rather slow smoker, taking the time and puffing gently using the breathing method. When my bowl warms it's doing this rather halfway than in the end. My pipes are cleaned after every smoke or before the next smoke. I deep clean every month.
At the end of the bowl I do have to relight quite often though. So, it might be a tamping/compaction problem or something. Can you help me out? Any tips to avoid this?

Thanks!

There is a technique thing here and drying tobacco, but some blends do burn to that fine ash better

 

[Coreios]

I smoke it all the way down but I know a lot of people that just dump the bottom.

 

[OzPiper]

Unless you're in Australia.

The meerschaum chips or Keystones are definitely cheaper than leaving a dottle each smoke

Unfortunately not being a devotee of delayed gratification, I frequently don't have time to dry my tobacco adequately.

 

[Briar Tuck]

The meerschaum chips or Keystones are definitely cheaper than leaving a dottle each smoke

Unfortunately not being a devotee of delayed gratification, I frequently don't have time to dry my tobacco adequately.

I might have to give those a try. Have you tried the wire screens?

I’ve taken to drying out my tobacco longer recently. Seems to help a lot, but not always convenient.

 

[OzPiper]

I might have to give those a try. Have you tried the wire screens?

I’ve taken to drying out my tobacco longer recently. Seems to help a lot, but not always convenient.

I do have a few wire screens which were included free in one of my orders, but haven't tried them.
The meer chips and Keystones are slightly absorbent and help reduce condensate, hence a noticeably drier smoke.

 

[BelgianGourmand]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the answers. They are kind of reassuring: I thought I was doing something wrong, but it's probably the tobacco and the inevitable build up of moisture in the bottom o the bowl. Considering your remarks, I do have a few tobaccos I can smoke down completely to very fine ash, but they're more of an exception.

 

[Briar Lee]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the answers. They are kind of reassuring: I thought I was doing something wrong, but it's probably the tobacco and the inevitable build up of moisture in the bottom o the bowl. Considering your remarks, I do have a few tobaccos I can smoke down completely to very fine ash, but they're more of an exception.

I don’t think moisture inevitably builds in the bottom of the bowl.

Moisture in the bottom of the bowl could be the result of condensed stem from burning tobacco, or from saliva, or a combination of the two. With enough experience, over fifty years, usually I can smoke about any tobacco all the way down without having it be too wet at the bottom.

If it doesn’t taste good, empty it.

One caveat.

Until I’ve completely broken in a pipe all the way down to the bottom, to where I can’t taste any briar, they’ll smoke hot and wet. After maybe a dozen or two dozen smokes,,,,down to the air hole,,,then after that I find no troubles with wet tobacco at the end of a smoke.

I’m convinced briar pipes are broken in by the extreme heat of the ember, further curing the briar.

I only keep a very thin cake, just enough to see, so there is just the slightest layer of carbon on the inside of the chamber. It’s the curing and not that thin cake that makes for a dry smoker.

 

[Ray Popp]

That's the dottle you're trying to smoke.

Lately I have been using meerschaum chips or Nording Keystones at the bottom of each bowl.
That and tamping with a light hand minimises dottle.

They are cheap as chips and you can reuse them a few times before discarding.

I have done this with meerschaums, but not with briars. Can one buy the chips? I have some from the guy in Turkey that I bought most of my meers from, he gave me a bag. But, they are almost gone.

 

[OzPiper]

I have done this with meerschaums, but not with briars. Can one buy the chips? I have some from the guy in Turkey that I bought most of my meers from, he gave me a bag. But, they are almost gone.

I got mine either from SmokingPipes or The Danish Pipe Shop
Sorry I can’t recall as it was in a large order of accessories
Nording Keystones also work well. The bags are very the way to go.

 

[BelgianGourmand]

One caveat.

Until I’ve completely broken in a pipe all the way down to the bottom, to where I can’t taste any briar, they’ll smoke hot and wet. After maybe a dozen or two dozen smokes,,,,down to the air hole,,,then after that I find no troubles with wet tobacco at the end of a smoke.

I’m convinced briar pipes are broken in by the extreme heat of the ember, further curing the briar.

I only keep a very thin cake, just enough to see, so there is just the slightest layer of carbon on the inside of the chamber. It’s the curing and not that thin cake that makes for a dry smoker.

Hey, that might also be one of the reasons: it's mainly with rather new pipes I have this problem, when I think about it. Thanks for the caveat!

 

[Honkytonk Man]

I dry the ever living hell out of my tobacco. And These days I don't like the term "pack" as it sounds like "cram full". I just do a gravity fill, basically pouring the tobacco in, and then when it's full, I lightly tamp it once. Then light it. It's not a competition to see how much tobacco you can fit in there.

When I get to the bottom and need a relight, I give it two attempts, and if it won't stay lit I dump it. That's how you scorch your mouth, is relighting wet dottle.

Wht you're doing, is pretty much what I'm doing, just a slight variation on the "filling" of the bowl. Gravity fill, a couple of taps, gravity fill again, light tamp and way we go! Sometimes, depending on bowl size, I can get 3 gravity fills.
And bizarrely, I do the same at the end of the bowl.

I have done and still able to smoke the whole bowl, without a re-light, to the very end. But this is usually by chance.