With all the emphasis that gets put on packing loosely, I wasn't expecting that to be the problem, but turns out it was. Part of the issue is the first tobacco I halfway learned how to smoke was propylene glycol drenched Captain Black, which needs to be packed looser than anything else I've tried. In my fumbling and experimenting, I kept packing looser and looser in search of a better smoking experience, but it turns out I was going in the wrong direction.
It wasn't as obvious with other aromatics, but when I tried some pretty dry Early Morning Pipe for the first time, it burned like a house afire and was very harsh. On my second try I packed it a lot tighter and got some nice flavor out if it, although it still burned pretty hot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've seen it said that English blends should be packed relatively loosely. But "relatively" is the key word there. With aromatics like the Sutliff Vanilla Custard I've been smoking for the last week, even when not much drier than it comes out of the baggie, I've found that it's much better when I pack it tight enough to have some resistance on the draw.
I use more or less the Frank method--I gravity fill the bowl, then put a big pinch on top and work it in. It was a big improvement for me over the "three pinch" method at first (with Captain Black), I believe because the tobacco was looser in the bottom of the bowl. But it seems to me that the success of the Frank method depends on getting a good column of tobacco into the pipe when you work the "packet" in. If it's not a big enough pinch or too much of it just falls off over the side, as happens to me a lot, it won't be tight enough. What I do now is, if I don't feel some resistance on a cold draw, I shove it down into the bowl until it feels something like sucking a milkshake through a straw (a relatively thin one, maybe, depends on your milkshake and your straw.)
Just some food for thought for fellow noobs. If your pipe seems harsh and you're struggling to get flavor besides burning lawn clippings, and you've read a million times that you should pack looser but it's not working, you just might be packing too loosely. As with anything pipe related, your mileage may vary.
It wasn't as obvious with other aromatics, but when I tried some pretty dry Early Morning Pipe for the first time, it burned like a house afire and was very harsh. On my second try I packed it a lot tighter and got some nice flavor out if it, although it still burned pretty hot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've seen it said that English blends should be packed relatively loosely. But "relatively" is the key word there. With aromatics like the Sutliff Vanilla Custard I've been smoking for the last week, even when not much drier than it comes out of the baggie, I've found that it's much better when I pack it tight enough to have some resistance on the draw.
I use more or less the Frank method--I gravity fill the bowl, then put a big pinch on top and work it in. It was a big improvement for me over the "three pinch" method at first (with Captain Black), I believe because the tobacco was looser in the bottom of the bowl. But it seems to me that the success of the Frank method depends on getting a good column of tobacco into the pipe when you work the "packet" in. If it's not a big enough pinch or too much of it just falls off over the side, as happens to me a lot, it won't be tight enough. What I do now is, if I don't feel some resistance on a cold draw, I shove it down into the bowl until it feels something like sucking a milkshake through a straw (a relatively thin one, maybe, depends on your milkshake and your straw.)
Just some food for thought for fellow noobs. If your pipe seems harsh and you're struggling to get flavor besides burning lawn clippings, and you've read a million times that you should pack looser but it's not working, you just might be packing too loosely. As with anything pipe related, your mileage may vary.
