Tobacco Amounts & Duration

[sjolie]

My general question is this, when smoking a pipe does it always require a full bowl? I feel I've broken in my briar well by using 1/3 - 1/2 bowls over several weeks, and now in the last couple weeks I've been enjoying nice full bowls on my back porch.
An arctic air mass has descended on the upper midwest and it is damn cold. I had an early bowl of 1Q last night after work, then after dinner wanted another - this time Royal Yacht. Realizing it was just too damn cold to smoke an entire bowl, I filled it 1/2 way, but still using the 3 phase packing method.
Is there any problem with smoking 1/3 to 1/2 bowls, as time or temperature allows? I'm most concerned about the pipe itself. I'd hate to be doing something that might damage it. Please let me know.
Thanks,

Sean
PS - it was a great 25 minute smoke - progressed similarly to a full bowl in flavor, never got too hot, etc. To me that Royal Yacht is pretty strong stuff anyway, so 1/2 isn't a bad way to go (but admittedly when I was done I'd wished for more).

 

[buck67]

I often smoke just a half bowl sometimes for the same reason. COLD!!! It doesn't hurt a bit and I don't waste precious tobacco. I'm sure there are others that do the same.

 

[yoru]

As you mentioned, it is actually a good idea to try breaking a pipe in with smaller bowls than the pipe itself. Once broken in, you can pretty much do whatever you want with little thought to the matter.
The only possible downside I can think of is that the cake would build unevenly, but if you have a reamer to cut it down -- and you should, voila.

 

[yuri66]

I agree with Yoru, I have been doing the 1/2 and 1/3 bowls for years because there are times I just do not have the time to enjoy a whole pipe, at work especially, but wanting to have the flavor and enjoyment of a good smoke, I just pack a 1/3 or 1/2 and still enjoy but do not get bitched at from the boss.

 

[collin]

Right wrong or indifferent I load up the amount I want to smoke.

Many times it's only a half-bowl and more often than not it's just three-quarters of a bowl.

Cake-schmake....if it ever gets uneven I'll ream it out.
If I burn out a bowl...it'll be; "Honey, I'm going down-town to get a new pipe!" ::

 

[nativeson]

Yeah! What Tommy said!

 

[unclearthur]

Load up what you can finish in the time you have. It will not do any harm to the pipe.

 

[collindow]

I just fill up and DGR what I can't smoke. I find that most English blends will be just fine for several hours, sometimes overnight, after being lit, smoked, and going out.

 

[jship079]

Buck67@I often smoke just a half bowl sometimes for the same reason. COLD!!! It doesn't hurt a bit and I don't waste precious tobacco. I'm sure there are others that do the same.

cold in Arizona yeah right did you move or something

 

[yoru]

Arizona is really cold in winter -- for the same reasons it gets hot pretty much. Anyway that was my understanding of geograph.y..never been there myself. Well, not in the past 10 years anyhow.