Hi Friends – I have been learning so much here and elsewhere and I have made a ton of progress on my tongue bite issue and thought I’d pass along a bit of what I have learned:
Special thanks to all of you for advice and encouragement. It was most helpful. I am having a lot of fun and finding that I love Vapers, Latakia blends and Aros all to the same degree but appreciate them in different ways of course. Peace - mike
- Drying more and packing looser does indeed help – of course most everyone with experience says this and I am glad I followed their advice.
- Minimize relights as much as possible. The more I relight the more I get bitten. When I do relight, I rarely touch the tobacco with the flame and that helps. If a blend is being difficult, I will dump the bowl and repack even if I am half way through and that helps.
- Sip sip sip. Once going I take short pulls/sips not big draws. Again, Keep it cool. My bowls rarely get above a little warm to the touch. This is another thing everyone says and it’s true. I tried the “breathe” method and it is not for me. It works but if I must focus that much on what I am doing it takes the fun out of it. I smoke to taste, relax and at times empty my mind of all thoughts.
- Filters work!!! The Sav balsa filters are just OK but I have been bitten even with them, but they do not affect flavor at all. The Sav 6mm carbon filters totally kill the bite even if I chug a bit. They also reduce the nic hit which for me is a good thing as I am super sensitive to vitamin N and I’d smoke all day if there we no nicotine involved. They may reduce the flavor a bit when sipping but a firmer pull and I really don’t notice it too bad, and I have very sensitive taste anyways. The flavor kill may be a problem for others. If you are struggling with bite, give em a try. I can get 3 bowls out of one filter – I do two, then spin it around for the third then replace.
- Alcohol makes bite worse. Especially hard liquor. It strips the oral mucosa of well...mucous and thereby some protection. I still drink rye, whiskey, gin, beer and wine when smoking but I am much more careful.
Special thanks to all of you for advice and encouragement. It was most helpful. I am having a lot of fun and finding that I love Vapers, Latakia blends and Aros all to the same degree but appreciate them in different ways of course. Peace - mike
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