Well, I started piping about 7 years ago. Kinda fumbled around with it and didn’t really get into the “groove”. Burnt tongue, overheated pipes, smoking too fast making everything I tried taste like burnt ashes. Anyway, ended up moving to a different state and pipes went into storage.
Fast forward to about 6 months ago and I decided it was time to knock the dust off my pipes and get them all cleaned up. I have about a dozen pipes, mostly Stanwells and Petersons. Now that I’m all settled in, I was able to devote more time and research to the cleaning process, rotating pipes, tobaccos, tobacco storage and most importantly, smoking techniques.
Well, thanks to this forum, I’ve been able to refine my smoking techniques and most important lesson learned was to SLOW the heck down. Once I learned the proper way to “sip” most tobaccos it’s like I was reborn! For the first time I was amazed at how different the taste and experience is when taking it nice and slow. I still need to work on cadence as I have a tendancy to be a constant puffer so even sipping gets the bowl a little warmer than I like. Practice, practice.
One thing I don’t do is make a big deal out of packing techniques. 99% of the time it’s a simple gravity, 2 stage pack and I’ll adjust with a tamper as I go. Seems to be working well as I’m experiencing that “perfect” bowl much more these days. Small puffs while tamping, priceless.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be learning much more and looking forward to it. This forum is an absolute gold mine. Thanks everyone and looking forward to being here for a long time. Headed to the back porch to finish a bowl of Pirate Kake. I absolutely love me some Latakia.
Fast forward to about 6 months ago and I decided it was time to knock the dust off my pipes and get them all cleaned up. I have about a dozen pipes, mostly Stanwells and Petersons. Now that I’m all settled in, I was able to devote more time and research to the cleaning process, rotating pipes, tobaccos, tobacco storage and most importantly, smoking techniques.
Well, thanks to this forum, I’ve been able to refine my smoking techniques and most important lesson learned was to SLOW the heck down. Once I learned the proper way to “sip” most tobaccos it’s like I was reborn! For the first time I was amazed at how different the taste and experience is when taking it nice and slow. I still need to work on cadence as I have a tendancy to be a constant puffer so even sipping gets the bowl a little warmer than I like. Practice, practice.
One thing I don’t do is make a big deal out of packing techniques. 99% of the time it’s a simple gravity, 2 stage pack and I’ll adjust with a tamper as I go. Seems to be working well as I’m experiencing that “perfect” bowl much more these days. Small puffs while tamping, priceless.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be learning much more and looking forward to it. This forum is an absolute gold mine. Thanks everyone and looking forward to being here for a long time. Headed to the back porch to finish a bowl of Pirate Kake. I absolutely love me some Latakia.