Still smoking too hot after all this time - advice requested
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I'll add that smoking tobacco that hasn't dried properly can create a lot of steam, which will burn the bejaysus out of your mouth. Baccy should be dried until it feels pliable but not wet in any way. This can take five minutes or five days, depending on the baccy and your drying environment. Some of us prefer their tobacco drier or moister than others do, and each blend probably has a slightly different optimal moisture level Experiment and see if that helps.
Also, remember that slow smoking is really about the speed at which the smoke enters your mouth, not just how often you puff. A bare trickle of smoke does the trick for me, and it might take me ten seconds to get a full mouthful of smoke-- although small mouthfuls are what I go for. Less smoke usually equals more flavor. Weird I know.
Also, remember that slow smoking is really about the speed at which the smoke enters your mouth, not just how often you puff. A bare trickle of smoke does the trick for me, and it might take me ten seconds to get a full mouthful of smoke-- although small mouthfuls are what I go for. Less smoke usually equals more flavor. Weird I know.
This might not work for you but experiment with how you pack the pipe, for me it makes a big difference on both how hot the tobacco burns and also on the draw. I pack the tobacco very differently in different pipes and with different tobaccos.
+1 on shaintiques comment my bowl rarely glows red except when it is too loosely packed I guess due to more air in the bowl.
Hope that is of at least a small help, worth a shot.
+1 on shaintiques comment my bowl rarely glows red except when it is too loosely packed I guess due to more air in the bowl.
Hope that is of at least a small help, worth a shot.
If you smoke outdoors a tighter packing may be required to slow-down the burn rate.
If I had to smoke outdoors I'd stick with folded flakes -- and full bodied, tasty ones at that.
It's easy to scorch your tongue with lighter, more delicately flavored blends because you puff harder
in an effort to extract more flavor than they can deliver.
I dunno, on those few occasions when I do smoke outdoors, I let the wind do all the puffing, and I just
sip the resultant smoke.
If I had to smoke outdoors I'd stick with folded flakes -- and full bodied, tasty ones at that.
It's easy to scorch your tongue with lighter, more delicately flavored blends because you puff harder
in an effort to extract more flavor than they can deliver.
I dunno, on those few occasions when I do smoke outdoors, I let the wind do all the puffing, and I just
sip the resultant smoke.
Are you using a pipe filter? That is the only thing, I have not seen covered, that comes to mind. If you are a wet smoker and are using pipe filters, I would suggest you try smoking without the filter. Excess moisture in the pipe for whatever reason, does not make for a cool smoke. Best wishes in getting back to a good smoke sans irritated mouth.
Most of my tobaccos are strong-flavored flakes. I find in the cold weather it gets even more difficult to taste anything outdoors unless it has a strong flavor - and the more Latakia, the easier it is to taste.
Outdoor winter smoking is not my idea of a great time.
Outdoor winter smoking is not my idea of a great time.
This may sound counterintuitive, but if you smoke stronger tobaccos, you will be less likely to get bit. If you are chasing the brown dragon, nicotine, you tend to puff harder with a mild tobacco. Get something like Royal Yacht, Irish Flake or University Flake which will satisfy the cravings and you will tend to puff slowly giving you a cooler smoke. Flakes are especially good because they tend to smoke cooler.
I'll bet it's one (or a combo) of these three things: moisture level of the tobacco, how tightly it's packed and your cadence.
With flake tobacco, it's been my experience that I get a cooler smoke the tighter I pack it (assuming it's dry enough), especially if I cube cut it.
With flake tobacco, it's been my experience that I get a cooler smoke the tighter I pack it (assuming it's dry enough), especially if I cube cut it.
This has been very helpful. A number of great ideas to try out when my mouth has gotten back in smoking condition. I think I'll three these three things:
1. Make sure the tobacco is truly dry enough
2. Pack a bit tighter
3. Drink water rather than tea while smoking
We'll see how those three work, and then add some of the other suggestions.
Again, many thanks for the ideas.
1. Make sure the tobacco is truly dry enough
2. Pack a bit tighter
3. Drink water rather than tea while smoking
We'll see how those three work, and then add some of the other suggestions.
Again, many thanks for the ideas.
This has already been very well covered by all here with some great advice, I too suffered tongue bite & struggled with Va's, Vaper's, burley & the worst being auro blends when I started pipe smoking years ago, I made adjustment's to my pipes by opening the draught hole to 4mm which allowed for a more open draw so I could just take a breath to get a draw rather than a suck, also inserting the bit of the stem further into my mouth & past the front part of my tongue helped a lot, also keep the internals dry by inserting a pipe cleaner down the stem into the bowl every now & again between puffs
I now mostly smoke GH&Co brown twist's, dark plugs, strong flake & never get any tongue bite no matter how I smoke them, so for me finding the right tobacco for me played a huge part & if you are looking for a full strong smoke you will not go far wrong with brown twist
I still enjoy other tobacco's including the odd auro but I have to be very careful how I smoke them, there are seasoned pipe smokers out there that no matter how cool & slow they sip on a pipe will get tongue bite from certain tobacco's where others don't, so I would not beat yourself up about your technique or packing of the pipe too much
I now mostly smoke GH&Co brown twist's, dark plugs, strong flake & never get any tongue bite no matter how I smoke them, so for me finding the right tobacco for me played a huge part & if you are looking for a full strong smoke you will not go far wrong with brown twist
I still enjoy other tobacco's including the odd auro but I have to be very careful how I smoke them, there are seasoned pipe smokers out there that no matter how cool & slow they sip on a pipe will get tongue bite from certain tobacco's where others don't, so I would not beat yourself up about your technique or packing of the pipe too much
Packing technique and moisture level of tobacco...if you're smoking slow it has to be those.
Or you're smoking MacBitey...oops..I mean MacBaren which always bites me regardless of technique. In all seriousness try to get to the bottom of which blends/types are causing problems. Some blending houses just don't get along with me. Can't smoke MacB and Dunhill doesn't agree with me either. Which is a shame because I do enjoy the tastes of a few of the above's blends. Just can't smoke 'em.
As far as moisture I will say this, everyone seems to really prefer their tobacco dry whereas I prefer it much more moist. I get WAY more bite from over dried rather then slightly too moist...
Like estatepipe said above I too primarily smoke G&H/SG ropes and they do not bite regardless of how good or poor my packing, cadence. They come fairly damp too and the only problem this causes is keeping it lit. Even smoked wet they don't bite. And yeah, they are strong.
Or you're smoking MacBitey...oops..I mean MacBaren which always bites me regardless of technique. In all seriousness try to get to the bottom of which blends/types are causing problems. Some blending houses just don't get along with me. Can't smoke MacB and Dunhill doesn't agree with me either. Which is a shame because I do enjoy the tastes of a few of the above's blends. Just can't smoke 'em.
As far as moisture I will say this, everyone seems to really prefer their tobacco dry whereas I prefer it much more moist. I get WAY more bite from over dried rather then slightly too moist...
Like estatepipe said above I too primarily smoke G&H/SG ropes and they do not bite regardless of how good or poor my packing, cadence. They come fairly damp too and the only problem this causes is keeping it lit. Even smoked wet they don't bite. And yeah, they are strong.
Most cavendishes or aromatics do not usually agree with me, so I don't even attempt to smoke them. My regular rotation would include all sorts of English tobaccos, Latakias, VaPers or straight Virginias. I can smoke all day long too without getting any tongue bite, and drink tea too, but I guess this is all down to the body chemistry + bad technique. If properly smoked, no tobacco should give you any tongue bite at all.
I discussed "hot-smoking" with my friend, a doctor who are beginning to smoke pipe.
As a newbie, he got tongue bite since he smoked aromatics. He went on to smoked heavy latakia, of which I helped him by packing the tobacco (Black Mallory), lent him my favourite latakia pipe (an old Peterson 302) and showing how to take very gentle sips.
To our surprise, he still suffers from tongue bite.
Being a medical professional, he researched further about mouth irritation since he believe temperature is not the case. He discovered that body chemistry had a lot to do with smoking preference. That is, some people just having a natural tendency to have high acidity or alkaline in their bodies. This explains that no matter how slow one smokes, he/she will still get hot-smoking sensation due to the chemical reaction of the two.
We then test his discovery by preparing a high acid beverage (an iced-lemon tea) to counter the high level of Alkaline of Orlik Golden Sliced. He take a gulp of the lemon tea, while puffing away a bowl full of the VA goodness.
Success !
Not only that he encounter no hot-smoking sensation, but he can fully describe the range of taste of Orlik GOlden Slice (quite an achievement for a person who has just learning how to smoke pipe for 3 months)
So there you have it!
I would suggest you to have an acid beverage ready (lemon tea/lemonade) to go with your Orlik Golden Sliced.
Good luck and do share us your experience!
As a newbie, he got tongue bite since he smoked aromatics. He went on to smoked heavy latakia, of which I helped him by packing the tobacco (Black Mallory), lent him my favourite latakia pipe (an old Peterson 302) and showing how to take very gentle sips.
To our surprise, he still suffers from tongue bite.
Being a medical professional, he researched further about mouth irritation since he believe temperature is not the case. He discovered that body chemistry had a lot to do with smoking preference. That is, some people just having a natural tendency to have high acidity or alkaline in their bodies. This explains that no matter how slow one smokes, he/she will still get hot-smoking sensation due to the chemical reaction of the two.
We then test his discovery by preparing a high acid beverage (an iced-lemon tea) to counter the high level of Alkaline of Orlik Golden Sliced. He take a gulp of the lemon tea, while puffing away a bowl full of the VA goodness.
Success !
Not only that he encounter no hot-smoking sensation, but he can fully describe the range of taste of Orlik GOlden Slice (quite an achievement for a person who has just learning how to smoke pipe for 3 months)
So there you have it!
I would suggest you to have an acid beverage ready (lemon tea/lemonade) to go with your Orlik Golden Sliced.
Good luck and do share us your experience!
An excellent post puferissimo & something I will be looking into & trying, Golden Slice is a wonderful tobacco but I do find myself struggling to get the full enjoyment out of it
If this turns out to be successful I will take my hat off to you & your medical friend
I also, as melvinsunsmoke has mentioned favor the tobaco on the more moist side than bone dry & believe that too dry can be more of a tongue bite issue, for me anyway
Also you can buy aloe vera in liquid form from many vitamin & supplement stores, this is very good for soothing the mouth & helps with the recovery process
If this turns out to be successful I will take my hat off to you & your medical friend
I also, as melvinsunsmoke has mentioned favor the tobaco on the more moist side than bone dry & believe that too dry can be more of a tongue bite issue, for me anyway
Also you can buy aloe vera in liquid form from many vitamin & supplement stores, this is very good for soothing the mouth & helps with the recovery process
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