What is the Best Tip or Advice You've Ever Gotten About Smoking a Pipe?

[leonardbill1]

Take a look at the "Your Most Important Discoveries in Pipe Smoking" post from earlier this month. There's some good advice there.

 

[indoeuro]

Hi all.

One of the difficult things as a relative (or still totally) newcomer here is most of the obvious, essential questions and topics have been covered. And then covered again.

And again.

I know, for instance, sitting permanently at the top of this section is a link to pipe smoking tips for beginners. (Helpful, no doubt.) But I'm trying for something a little different, as the subject line says: What's the best tip or advice you've ever gotten about smoking a pipe? Maybe another way to put it: If you only could give someone one suggestion, what might it be?

One a podcast (I honestly don't remember which), I heard this, and I think it has really advanced my enjoyment of my pipes: When you're tamping, the goal is to introduce the burning ember to the unlit tobacco underneath it -- and it doesn't take a lot of force.

Pack loose and smoke slow.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Yep, nearly twenty-four twelve ounce cans per day.

Do you bleed green?

I would drink Mountain Dew along with smoking but I think Dr. Pepper is more complimentary.

Speaking of which, the best piece of advice I forgot to follow recently was "don't smoke a Nic heavy blend without eating sugar".

 

[samuelgawith01]

I won't call it actual spoken or written advice,but when I discovered the Cornell and Diehl tobacco blends,with thier relatively low humidity content,it really made me stand up and take notice.It was a game changer for me.This occured in 1996 / 97.

 

[sablebrush52]

Wow! A lot of generational wisdom here, plus Embers' thyroid, what could I possibly add to what has been posted that would be of any value, whatsoever? Maybe this? You can't burn tobacco without igniting it, so remember to do that, preferably after packing.

 

[samuelgawith01]

Wow! A lot of generational wisdom here, plus Embers' thyroid, what could I possibly add to what has been posted that would be of any value, whatsoever? Maybe this? You can't burn tobacco without igniting it, so remember to do that, preferably after packing.

?

 

[Roy M]

Drinking tonic and lime with a pipe is good? That’s good to know! My evening routine involves that many times…

Other than the ones already mentioned: always drink a citrus drink while smoking. Now my morning pipe must be with my morning coffee, but otherwise I try to drink Lemonade, pineapple juice or tonic water while smoking. It helps to clean the palate and ease a tired mouth.

 

[Gavrin]

Reading the thread: what 1 thing you would pass on to someone starting out: What is meant when some of you say "dry your tobacco". I tried a search but not finding anything that is giving me a clue. Do you literally dry out every ounce of tobacco when you remove it from it's container or? Sorry but as you can see a pretty complete noob here.

 

[Akousticplyr]

Reading the thread: what 1 thing you would pass on to someone starting out: What is meant when some of you say "dry your tobacco". I tried a search but not finding anything that is giving me a clue. Do you literally dry out every ounce of tobacco when you remove it from it's container or? Sorry but as you can see a pretty complete noob here.

Here you go! Many different discussions about that. Ranging from simply laying a bowl full of tobacco out on a paper towel, paper plate, coffee filter etc, desk lamps and heat lamps, warming trays to even using regular and microwave ovens!

I think the simplest is to pack a bowl into a pipe and just let it sit. Maybe a few hours, maybe overnight etc etc. Depends on a lot of factors- personal preference, type of tobacco, any many other things.

Search results for query: drying tobacco - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/search/634212/?q=drying+tobacco&c[title_only]=1&o=date

 

[sablebrush52]

I think the simplest is to pack a bowl into a pipe and just let it sit. Maybe a few hours, maybe overnight etc etc. Depends on a lot of factors- personal preference, type of tobacco, any many other things.

Someties referred to as Delayed Gratification Technique. It works really well.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Someties referred to as Delayed Gratification Technique. It works really well.

I want to have affairs with my pipes not marry them!

I kid.

 

[crashthegrey]

My favorite advice to most newbie questions, smoke a pipe. We all tend to ask some ridiculous questions at the start of the journey that really just require a little experience to come clear.

 

[OzPiper]

Reading the thread: what 1 thing you would pass on to someone starting out: What is meant when some of you say "dry your tobacco". I tried a search but not finding anything that is giving me a clue. Do you literally dry out every ounce of tobacco when you remove it from it's container or? Sorry but as you can see a pretty complete noob here.

Tobacco comes out of the tin in varying degrees of dryness.

The drier the tobacco, the more easily it lights and stays lit. Moist tobacco will require more relights.
It is difficult to smoke a bowl of moist tobacco entirely to ashes. Inevitably you will be left with a moist dottle at the bottom of your bowl if you start off with moist tobacco.

I take a few pinches of tobacco and leave out in a bowl some time before my smoke. If the tobacco is quite moist, it may require an hour or more. If I haven't allowed any dry time, I leave the bowl in full sun for 10 mins and that usually suffices. Others have suggested putting it under or on top of a lamp to dry.

Opinions differ on how dry is optimal. You don't want crisp tobacco strands. Some say that you lose flavour if the tobacco is too dry. Experiment to see what suits you. Different blends smoke differently and may require different moisture content.

The other factor is the ambient humidity of where you are living. Very different conditions in a desert compared to the tropics or equatorial regions. And if you have air-conditioning or heating in the house.

There is no "one size fits all"

 

[Gavrin]

Tobacco comes out of the tin in varying degrees of dryness.

The drier the tobacco, the more easily it lights and stays lit. Moist tobacco will require more relights.
It is difficult to smoke a bowl of moist tobacco entirely to ashes. Inevitably you will be left with a moist dottle at the bottom of your bowl if you start off with moist tobacco.

I take a few pinches of tobacco and leave out in a bowl some time before my smoke. If the tobacco is quite moist, it may require an hour or more. If I haven't allowed any dry time, I leave the bowl in full sun for 10 mins and that usually suffices. Others have suggested putting it under or on top of a lamp to dry.

Opinions differ on how dry is optimal. You don't want crisp tobacco strands. Some say that you lose flavour if the tobacco is too dry. Experiment to see what suits you. Different blends smoke differently and may require different moisture content.

The other factor is the ambient humidity of where you are living. Very different conditions in a desert compared to the tropics or equatorial regions. And if you have air-conditioning or heating in the house.

There is no "one size fits all"

understood , thanks

 

[crawdad]

Slow. Down.

 

[Akousticplyr]

Someties referred to as Delayed Gratification Technique. It works really well.

Perhaps this is why some pipe smokers have Popeye-sized forearms?

 

[Bivymack]

The smoke is done when you’re not enjoying it anymore, don’t power through just to smoke down to ash.