Trial of Newbie Mantra.

[anotherbob]

Reading this site I notice that newbies now struggle from too much information instead of too little.
We often seem to have new pipe smokers asking if they did it right? The answer is did you enjoy it? Did you get smoke? Did you not break the pipe? Did you put it in the correct orifice (you do what you want, but I won't encourage it)? Then yeah you did it right. Could you do it differently and end up with a more enjoyable and hassle free smoke? Of course you could have. Are you better at kissing now? Better then you were with your first partner? You did both correctly, but now you have experience and more input. Pipe smoking is the same.
Long story short going to try a mantra for the new pipe smoker.
"Load, Smoke, Refine".
Side note why do people learn wines and all those little details and swirling and tasting stuff? And learn the nuances. So they can have more fun with wines. Drinking a bottle of ripple to get sideways is fine too. The question is what are you looking for?
Also most of the wine snobs I know started with the intention of just getting drunk and eventually realized there are more joys in wine then just a buzz.

 

[proteus]

 

[cosmicfolklore]

 

[BingBong]

Hello from Lo.... WAIT A MINUTE!!

 

[beetlejockey]

I must not pack too tightly.
Packing too tightly is the smoke-killer.
Packing tightly is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my packing.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when I have smoked, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the tobacco has gone there will be nothing. Only ash will remain.

And also dry your tobacco!

- A complete newbie

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

DRY YOUR TOBACCO!

 

[proteus]

Whoops. Forgot what I was doing.

Mantra

Pack it. Smoke it.

Skills

Understand the fire triangle. Air. Fuel. Heat.

Simple..

 

[sardonicus87]

I've noticed this behavior happening a lot lately online in ALL kinds of areas, and I don't think it's necessarily because of too much information (hell it's clear some people didn't try to find any information at all).

I think it's a cause much worse than that. Whenever there's inflation and stagnant wages, road rage gets worse (in number of incidents and severity). The more stressed the general public is, the more they rage at everyone and the more easily they get enraged. It's like the trope of going home and kicking the dog because your boss made you mad at work that day—the dog didn't do anything, it's displaced anger because you can't kick your boss (without losing your job, probably).

I think a similar phenomenon is occurring with these kinds of questions and it's because many people are lacking or feeling like they have no control in their lives and that everything is chaos and nothing makes sense... so they want clear rules and want to shove anything they can into boxes, they want stuff that's unambiguous and black-and-white. Not too dissimilar to how many develop anorexia... they desperately want control over things they can't control, so they go overboard on controlling their weight. They don't want to have to think or figure anything out, they just want a "one true way" with clear instructions, and they want this "one true way" to always be true and always be the case and always apply, no deviation or aberrations. "You do it this way and it works, this is the way it is". A desperate desire for stability and certainty.

 

[Elric]

I must not pack too tightly.
Packing too tightly is the smoke-killer.
Packing tightly is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my packing.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when I have smoked, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the tobacco has gone there will be nothing. Only ash will remain.

And also dry your tobacco!

- A complete newbie

Ah, the Pipe Gesserit.

 

[VDL_Piper]

The simple adage of "just get on with it" is the most relevant. New smokers seem to suffer from some sort of paralysis as soon as they touch their pipe.

 

[DeerparkDays]

I learnt a good lesson a while ago while building a glasshouse.
I bought around 400 glass panes from someone who didn't want their one, and I had to cut one edge off most of the panes for them to fit my one. I learned the basics about cutting glass (scribing and snapping it). After those basics....I noticed that the more effort I put into getting a perfectly scribed line...a perfectly flat surface...a perfectly applied amount of pressure on the scriber....perfect placement of hands ready for the snap, and the perfect snap....the worse job I got and the more sheets that broke. When I just got on with the job while thinking about the busty chick next door I could cut dozens of sheets without breaking any.

I learned to put less focus in and I got a way better job.

The trick is, I suppose, to realise what tasks in life to apply this learning to, in my view, pipe smoking being one of them.

 

[KingPiper]

Being a fairly new pipe smoker (year and a half) I can say you are spot on with what its like for newbies. It’s so easy to get tripped up by one line of advice from another pipe smoker. I scorched my tongue for months when I first started because the tobacconist that I bought my pipe from told me that I should be smoking to the bottom of the bowl.

Best advice I ever got was when I asked a long time smoker what technique they use to load their pipe. He said don’t use a technique just load your pipe. That advice led me to dropping everything I had read and just loading up and smoking.

Also, dry your tobacco. The only advice you shouldn’t ignore.

 

[Choatecav]

Forums are stressful..........................

 

[carp rides again]

The ever present " If I write a book on a forum, maybe they'll get it" is also a thing

 

[VoodooChum]

I've noticed this behavior happening a lot lately online in ALL kinds of areas, and I don't think it's necessarily because of too much information (hell it's clear some people didn't try to find any information at all).

I think it's a cause much worse than that. Whenever there's inflation and stagnant wages, road rage gets worse (in number of incidents and severity). The more stressed the general public is, the more they rage at everyone and the more easily they get enraged. It's like the trope of going home and kicking the dog because your boss made you mad at work that day—the dog didn't do anything, it's displaced anger because you can't kick your boss (without losing your job, probably).

I think a similar phenomenon is occurring with these kinds of questions and it's because many people are lacking or feeling like they have no control in their lives and that everything is chaos and nothing makes sense... so they want clear rules and want to shove anything they can into boxes, they want stuff that's unambiguous and black-and-white. Not too dissimilar to how many develop anorexia... they desperately want control over things they can't control, so they go overboard on controlling their weight. They don't want to have to think or figure anything out, they just want a "one true way" with clear instructions, and they want this "one true way" to always be true and always be the case and always apply, no deviation or aberrations. "You do it this way and it works, this is the way it is". A desperate desire for stability and certainty.

There's a lot of truth to this. I often find myself wanting at bare minimum the basics well defined. Similar to cooking, I want a rock solid BASE recipe that I can then experiment with and refine to my personal preferences and whims. With pipe smoking however, even the "basics" are a bit ambiguous. Packing your pipe seems straight forward and almost all the "techniques" suggested are very similar but they all depend on what feels right to you and provided you with the experience you're looking for. It's taken me a bit to throw away the internal need for control over the base here and just simply enjoy the ride. Read some information, take a suggestion or two, try them out and see how well you enjoyed them. I'm finding that each individual pipe even has it's own preference. Some of mine have a more open airway and if I don't pack a little tighter I don't feel the slight restriction I like and others if I pack the slightest bit too tight it feels like I'm working to get smoke through them. The uncertainty has become a major part of the enjoyment, I never know what I might uncover next.

 

[anotherbob]

There's a lot of truth to this. I often find myself wanting at bare minimum the basics well defined. Similar to cooking, I want a rock solid BASE recipe that I can then experiment with and refine to my personal preferences and whims. With pipe smoking however, even the "basics" are a bit ambiguous. Packing your pipe seems straight forward and almost all the "techniques" suggested are very similar but they all depend on what feels right to you and provided you with the experience you're looking for. It's taken me a bit to throw away the internal need for control over the base here and just simply enjoy the ride. Read some information, take a suggestion or two, try them out and see how well you enjoyed them. I'm finding that each individual pipe even has it's own preference. Some of mine have a more open airway and if I don't pack a little tighter I don't feel the slight restriction I like and others if I pack the slightest bit too tight it feels like I'm working to get smoke through them. The uncertainty has become a major part of the enjoyment, I never know what I might uncover next.

Reminds me that my best advice for packing a pipe is to take test draws until you feel the right level of resistance. I only really do that now if I haven't smoked a particular cut or blend in a while or ever before.

 

[telescopes]

The Frank Method is almost bulletproof if not bulletproof. breathing rate is right behind it. After that would be how the initial light is started. Drying can be included in packing.

 

[anotherbob]

The Frank Method is almost bulletproof if not bulletproof. breathing rate is right behind it. After that would be how the initial light is started. Drying can be included in packing.

I was very disappointed in that method. Though also totally down with the fact that it's as close to fool proof as possible.

 

[Douglas]

When I was a young teenager hesitating over some task, a very near and dear old dairy farmer told me “Doug, do something even if it’s wrong”. That sage advice has helped in many situations throughout my life. Including learning the pipe.

 

[woodsroad]

I learnt a good lesson a while ago while building a glasshouse.
I bought around 400 glass panes from someone who didn't want their one, and I had to cut one edge off most of the panes for them to fit my one. I learned the basics about cutting glass (scribing and snapping it). After those basics....I noticed that the more effort I put into getting a perfectly scribed line...a perfectly flat surface...a perfectly applied amount of pressure on the scriber....perfect placement of hands ready for the snap, and the perfect snap....the worse job I got and the more sheets that broke. When I just got on with the job while thinking about the busty chick next door I could cut dozens of sheets without breaking any.

I learned to put less focus in and I got a way better job.

The trick is, I suppose, to realise what tasks in life to apply this learning to, in my view, pipe smoking being one of them.

Pix of the neighbor?