Training Myself to Smoke Cooler

[fishmansf]

Title edited. Rule 9.

I’ve been pipe smoking for about six years. I still haven’t been able to train myself to smoke slow and cool and regularly give myself tongue bite. Most the time I don’t even realize I’m smoking hot. Any tips on how to train yourself to smoke cooler?

 

[Ryan]

Try a pair of Ray-Bans. Everyone is a little cooler wearing the classic Wayfarer design.

In reality I don’t have any good advice, other than suggesting perhaps you could pack the chamber a bit differently?

 

[jbfrady]

I’ve been pipe smoking for about six years. I still haven’t been able to train myself to smoke slow and cool and regularly give myself tongue bite. Most the time I don’t even realize I’m smoking hot. Any tips on how to train yourself to smoke cooler?

A couple things can change that pretty quickly...

First off, there's packing technique. For the first several years I smoked, I didn't realize that I wasn't packing my tobacco down firmly enough. Having too much air between the leaves allows the flame to catch in a much wider arc, sending more heat through the chamber than is necessary. It'll take practice, but tamp down more than you think you should have to, and keep on doing so until you find a sweet spot. You'll kill a few bowls and have to loosen them up, re-light and try again - this much is likely unavoidable; but learn that skill and you won't forget it.

The other has to do with cut. Ribbons will always smoke hotter than cakes and American cut flakes, which themselves smoke hotter than coins and hot pressed flakes. For that reason, about 90% of tins I open are either hot pressed flakes or coins. It's not that ribbons are bad, but in my opinion they're simply not the preference.

If you do both of those things and it's still not working, try buying an old estate factory billiard or otherwise straight pipe. They're available through forum members here regularly, or you can catch one on smokingpipes.com or eBay, etc. They're the perfect learning instruments.

If none of that works, I guess you should take @Ryar's advice and supporting for some Ray Bans.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Keep your hand on the bowl. If the bowl start to get warm…slow down. This will begin to guide & inform your cadence & puffing️

 

[Chasing Embers]

Quit thinking about it. Smoking evolves and a mindless smoke is a happy smoke.

 

[kcghost]

You have to be sure your bowl is not tightly packed. You can check the draw while you're filling your pipe. Draw on the pipe each time put some tobacco into the bowl. You want an easy draw not one that forces you to suck out the tobacco. Then just smoke your pipe at a slower pace than you have been. I'd say draw on the pipe less than half of the time you are now. Are don't be afraid of relights. They occur to most folks. Just relight the pipe and don't make a big deal of it.

 

[anotherbob]

my advice is sip. Sip the pipe like a fancy expensive drink you want to savor. It really ends up making tongue bite a non-issue. And it's easier to keep up on that then to pay attention to your timing with puffs. Another way to look at it is too not think of it as smoking but tending the ember. Try either of those and it might just be the ticket.

 

[InWithBothFeet]

Newbie piper here, so take this for what it's worth. Are your pipes filtered or non? If non, maybe try a filtered pipe with the charcoal filters. The fella that runs the pipe nook YT channel said he always had issues with tongue bite and a filtered pipe was a game changer for him.

 

[didimauw]

Where there is smoke, there's fire. Less smoke, less fire, less heat.

Pretend like you are hiding the fact you are smoking. You gotta keep it lit, but don't want anyone to know.

I think that may have sounded better in my head...

 

[fishmansf]

Newbie piper here, so take this for what it's worth. Are your pipes filtered or non? If non, maybe try a filtered pipe with the charcoal filters. The fella that runs the pipe nook YT channel said he always had issues with tongue bite and a filtered pipe was a game changer for him.

No filters for me so that is something I might consider

 

[proteus]

Six years of tounge bite ... that's some perseverance. Try taking breaks in between smoking a short bit.

 

[Chickenpicker]

Newbie smoker here, but after some early trial and error, I’m finding a combination of things are helping.

First off, in addition to what everyone shared so far, is as a newbie I find holding the bowl rather than clenching helps me monitor the heat of the bowl prior to getting bitten. If it’s getting hot to the touch, let it cool off and start off slowly again. I find while clenching, I’m less aware of the heat of the bowl until it’s too late, as well as having the pipe in my mouth, I’m more apt to puff away rather than slow down.

Secondly, again, in addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I’m finding that certain blends smoke hotter in certain pipes of mine. So learning and paying attention to which blends work best in particular pipes of mine has made a difference for me. For example, I seem to have better luck with aromatics in my Churchwarden or at least longer stem pipes, as well as my gourd calabash, versus in my shorter stemmed pipes.

Hope that helps in some way! Still learning here too, but loving every step!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Title edited. Rule 9.

I’ve been pipe smoking for about six years. I still haven’t been able to train myself to smoke slow and cool and regularly give myself tongue bite. Most the time I don’t even realize I’m smoking hot. Any tips on how to train yourself to smoke cooler?

If you haven’t read this thread posted by @cosmicfolklore , it’s well worth a gander:

On Smoking Slowly and the Benefits... :: General Pipe Smoking Discussion

It has been 8 years since I have posted a thread about the benefits of slow smoking. I took a break to let other smokers step up and address this issue. But, I notice that a lot of new posts can easily be summed up with taking notice that smoking slow is the goal. So, here is goes... The...

pipesmagazine.com

 

[bpinkstaff]

Great advise from everyone I try everything I see one at a time and it is starting to come together

 

[Servant King]

Title edited. Rule 9.

Any tips on how to train yourself to smoke cooler?

But in all seriousness, I have found that adequate drying of the tobacco is the most important step of the process. Granted, there's a whole spectrum of preferences in that regard, but I've had the best luck always erring on the side of drier. Sometimes to the point where it's crispy, like in the case of straight VAs (I can't enjoy them otherwise). Once I got that part down, all the other elements seemed to subsequently lock into place on their own, including an invariably cool smoke. And every now and then, I slip up and don't give something enough time. If that happens, it doesn't matter what else I do right--it screws up the entire smoke almost every single time.

Just my three cents (inflation).

 

[garlikethefish]

Servant King is speaking truth. There are some tobaccos, I'm thinking SG tobaccos that need a considerable drying time. Couple that with maybe a lighter packing method might lead to a smoother smoke. In my opinion of course.

 

[LeafErikson]

All of the above is great advice.

The only thing I’ll add is to find a blend that irritates your mouth the least, and smoke that blend exclusively until you figure out how to smoke it with absolutely no tongue bite.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

and prior to loading up ,it is beneficial to let your tobacco to air dry for at least 30 minute

 

[bullet08]

Forget Wayfarer. Go with Aviator for the MacArthur cool.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

All of the above is great advice.

The only thing I’ll add is to find a blend that irritates your mouth the least, and smoke that blend exclusively until you figure out how to smoke it with absolutely no tongue bite.

And, to become a master cool smoker, only smoke in a clay pipe till you can keep that cool. THEN, you can keep any pipe cool.