That’s what I feel it might be. I live a couple hundred yards from a large river and many times during the evening you can see fog coming up from the river due to sun going down and temperature change. Sometimes the fog at night is heavy. Its definitely damper here at night and humidity has always been suspected. I just wasn’t sure if dampness and/or higher humidity would have an effect on this…hence my original post.
In the afternoon, there is rarely any fog or mist.
Even though the tobacco is dry enough, can dampness actually effect the tobacco that quickly? I mainly smoke Aeromatics and Sutliff Dark Decadence which is an extremely wet tobacco that I have sit out for a couple weeks or nuke it. But as mentioned, don’t have any trouble in the daytime.
But am going to try a Latakia and Virginia blend and see if that makes any difference.
I live right next to a river as well, and it does get pretty stodgy here, most noticeably after the sun sets. Dry tobacco can act as a moisture sponge when exposed to a humid environment, but an aromatic that already contains a lot of excess moisture will result in a very wet, steamy smoke. I prefer my tobacco on the dry side, and I do find that it lights and stays lit more easily, tastes better, and leaves behind less moisture when dried before smoking.
I think trying some blends with less added humectant could be a good idea. There are aromatics out there which are not overly moist and "goopy" like some can be. "Goopy" tobaccos are, IMO, harder to smoke. A cob is a good choice for humid conditions, as it will be more absorbent than a briar, so you're on the right track there.
I started experimenting with the following process to make a pipe with a 2" deep bowl more usable for me, but I believe that it can help with moisture and gurgling, as well (though maybe not so much with the issue of relights):
I bought a 1lb sack of inexpensive "pipe" tobacco intended for rolling, which comes dry and in a fine shag cut. I'll sometimes pack a bit of this at the bottom of the bowl to act as sacrificial dottle and to raise my actual smoking tobacco up, because I have trouble smoking this particular pipe near to the bottom. Not only does it reduce waste of the "good" tobacco, but it also seems to absorb quite a bit of moisture and other crud which collects at the bottom of the bowl. I feel that it keeps the smoke drier and more pleasant. Might be worth a try if you have issues with wet smokes.
. Wind makes the pipe burn HOT!
I have to use a wind cap or the bowl will burn out in 10-15 minutes some days. Cold air is oxygen rich and more dense also causing a pipe to burn Hot. Cold also brings low humidity, and everything is DRY. This does not affect a smoke if loaded and smoked, but tobacco cannot be left out long.
