Topping Off?

[Chasing Embers]

I think the Elephant is pretty hard to come by in the U.S.?

These days, sadly yes.

 

[mso489]

Let me dissent just to keep the thread going. Hey, if topping off works for you, it's good. I'd make a distinction between topping off and parfait, since usually parfait is setting up layers of different tobaccos before you light up, or that's what would be generally understood. My reluctance to top off is that if I'm smoking well (to me) the bowl tends to develop and improve as the bowl burns, the ember becomes more focused, the flavor more nuanced, and the burn more thorough, if I'm lucky. Starting "over" by packing new leaf on top diminishes that effect somewhat, for me. I'd rather smoke the bowl down to dottle or white ash, and repack another.

 

[akfilm]

The one top I topped off, it was the worse tasting pipe ever for me, never did it again.

 

[jpmcwjr]

So, try again!
Or not

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I could see an already very spicy latakia blend, or goopy aromatic, or burley blend really not tasting very well with topping off. But, a Virginia or VaPer, eh, why not try it? Whose it gonna hurt, or not... whateva...

 

[jpmcwjr]

I do it with Lat forward blends, but never with goopy stuff, nor burleys nor aromatics. Not real often, but sometimes that shoe fits.

 

[npod]

I have tried it many times, but it never seems to work the way I thought. The taste is just off. So I dump and repack mostly.