Keeping pipe lit

[mhsrunner]

I have a few questions to see if I am smoking right and any aspects of my pipe smoking that I need to change. I pack the way it says in the faq, and think I have that down, however I can only keep the pipe lit for about 5 minutes at a time. After this I have to relight and its another 5 minutes until it pretty well goes out again. Are there other people out there who have to relight a few times over the course of a complete smoke? Is this often times normal? Right now I just dump out the burnt ash when it goes out and relight the untouched tobacco. The other issue I have is in regards to tamping. When I get about half the the bowl burnt i try to tamp to get the embers to burn the lower tobacco. All this seems to do is crush all of the ash into a top layer that oxygen can't get through, and thus the tobacco goes out. Any advice on changing the way I tamp? Thanks.

[Will_S]

Make sure your tobacco is not too wet and that you arent packing too tightly.

Don't tamp too hard. Just the weight of the tamper or a little more should be enough. Its ok to dump ashes periodically. Stir at the bottom of the bowl to loosen up the tobacco so you can burn it all

Practice makes perfect.

Get used to relights. After almost 2 years of pipe smoking I can easily average 10 relights per bowl. Could be I'm just inept.

[ssutton219]

Everyone is a lil different and I have to relight all the time (still very new to pipes) and as for tamping..umm well...I dont know..I still have problems..all I know is that I have been told to keep trying.....and I am loving it.



Shawn

[Bridges]

Make sure the tobac isn't too wet. I had the same problem then I let it dry out a little and it smoked great. Also I've found that a torch lighter works really well. (Lights it better and faster, gets the fire deeper) The only problem with a torch is that it will burn your pipe real quick. (I've been using a $5 cob so it doesn't bother me) Also you might try doing a youtube search on packing a pipe at youtube.com. There's one with an old German guy that's very helpful. Hope this helps.

[kvm]

I'm just coming back to pipes myself but many things come into play as has already been posted. How you pack... how much you dry the tobacco...how often you puff and tamp and so on. I think everyone really develops their own technique. No hard fast rules. It takes time. Make adjustments a step at a time. Your packing your drying your tamping....You'll find what works for you.

[JohnnyFlake]

Everything that's important has been mentioned, and it's all good information.

The one thing that is most important, is the moisture content of the tobacco. Even if your not the best at packing yet, and your still learning how to tamp properly, if the tobacco is dry enough, the pipe should rarely go out! For a good smoke, the tobacco should be, very much, on the dry side!

[Mister Moo]

1) Golf: first lesson at the driving range. Everyone wants the big wood and clobbers the ball like there's no tomorrow. Most guys don't consider chopping Buick-sized divets from the earth is not the best way to start.

2) Pipes: we want to fill them to the top and commence puffing on day one.

3) Business: it's always easier to lower a price down than to raise it back up.

4) Combine 1-3: It's all the same with pipes, only different.

Wet tobak aside, my relight breakthrough was discovering the addage, "Don't pack the tobacco so tight, dummy." It's way easy to pack tobacco a bit loose and correct with a (very light) tamp (or two or three or four light tamps) than it is to unclog a pipe or open up the draw. Breaking in a couple of new pipes with that tried-and-true1/3 starter pack recommendation was how I finally got accustomed to correct packing and the associated benefits.

When I got that first 1/3-fill to smoke correctly it was easy to build on the right touch with the next 1/3, etc. Now it's happy sledding without much (if any) relighting and ash to the bottom. A pipe 1/3 filled is a place where you can learn a lot, fast, if you're paying attention. When you get a one-third filled pipe to burn without relights, you're almost home free.

[Mad Hatter]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

1) Wet tobak aside, my relight breakthrough was discovering the addage, "Don't pack the tobacco so tight, dummy." It's way easy to pack tobacco a bit loose and correct with a (very light) tamp (or two or three or four light tamps) than it is to unclog a pipe or open up the draw. Breaking in a couple of new pipes with that tried-and-true1/3 starter pack recommendation was how I finally got accustomed to correct packing and the associated benefits.

When I got that first 1/3-fill to smoke correctly it was easy to build on the right touch with the next 1/3, etc. Now it's happy sledding without much (if any) relighting and ash to the bottom. A pipe 1/3 filled is a place where you can learn a lot, fast, if you're paying attention. When you get at a one-third filled pipe to burn without relights, you're almost home free.

What he said, plus (with no intent to improve upon perfection) if your pipe isn't broken in it can be a big problem too