Right now I smoking some dottle from the last week's pipes. Tobacco is expensive and I'll be damned if I'm going to toss out perfectly good stuff. I know this is not for everyone, but it works for me.
I am surprised at the number of responses to this post. I mentioned something about this a while back and no one seemed interested. Strange!
So, for those who are interested... First; keep in mind it costs you nothing to try this, so if you don't like the results no big deal.
Here's how I do it. I let the dottle build up in my ashtray for about a week then I take the ashtray, a kitchen strainer and an empty tobacco can out in the the back yard. Next I check the wind. I want a light breeze and I note the direction. Now, I pour some of the dottle in the strainer and, standing up wind, I shake the strainer so the fine ash comes out the bottom and is blown away by the breeze. I continue to do this until no more ash comes out. What remains is smokeable tobacco. I repeat this with more till I've done all the dottle and it's in the tobacco can.
Next is smoking it. I have my system and you can use yours. I take a fresh pipe and fill it about a quarter up with fresh tobacco. I don't want the dottle at the bottom because if can clog the draft hole. Then I fill it with dottle almost to the brim and top it off with more fresh tobacco to act as kindling in helping to get the pipe burning. Because the dottle and fresh tobacco are the same, I don't even notice when the burn goes from one to the other. That's it. A tip: Don't let you're wife see you using her strainer....
