Ask a Pipe Guy

[koolhandk]

Originally Posted by Ceedee

Made this a sticky for you all. Scott, this is great stuff. I got to learn a ton already... perhaps sometime in the future, I will jump into the cool "pipe" end of the pool

CD

C'mon in the water is just fine.

[~Robbie~]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Thanks for your input Robbie!! Would you or your shop be willing to put together any kind of Starter Kit for anyone interested?

Sorry to just reply to this, I must have missed this reply. This is a loaded question for me as a member of this board. What I mean by that is I get a lot of business from another board and I am quite content with that, I came to cigarlive for discussions, not to solicit for business. I wouldn't want anyone to think that my offering something like this would make it appear as though I was doing so. Since (unfortunately) the Pipe Smoking section of the board probably isn't the most frequented part of the site I'll go ahead and say yes, I'll offer a starter kit with a pipe, some tobacco and necessary accessorries, and anyone interested can just send me a message or email asking for details. I don't want to advertise it on the open forum. I hope you understand where I am coming from. I want to help and certainly don't mind the business, but I really just want to be one of the guys on here, learning from those more experienced than me and here to help those that are new.

[Webmeister]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Thanks Chris!! Let me know when you're ready to come over to the dark side. Ask Webby how I tore him up when he first started with the pipe.

True dat! Between Scott and FJ, I got the snuff kicked outta me. Now look what's happened. They've created a monster...

[Ceedee]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Thanks Chris!! Let me know when you're ready to come over to the dark side. Ask Webby how I tore him up when he first started with the pipe.

Ya never know my brother... never know!

CD

[Dun killin time]

Originally Posted by ~Robbie~

Sorry to just reply to this, I must have missed this reply. This is a loaded question for me as a member of this board. What I mean by that is I get a lot of business from another board and I am quite content with that, I came to cigarlive for discussions, not to solicit for business. I wouldn't want anyone to think that my offering something like this would make it appear as though I was doing so. Since (unfortunately) the Pipe Smoking section of the board probably isn't the most frequented part of the site I'll go ahead and say yes, I'll offer a starter kit with a pipe, some tobacco and necessary accessorries, and anyone interested can just send me a message or email asking for details. I don't want to advertise it on the open forum. I hope you understand where I am coming from. I want to help and certainly don't mind the business, but I really just want to be one of the guys on here, learning from those more experienced than me and here to help those that are new.

Robbie, you can be 'just one of the guys' and still offer stuff like this on the forum I've sold/traded stuff and Slow Triathlete put some nice starter pipe and samplers together.
http://www.cigarlive.com/forum/t1644...-samplers.html
stuff like this is appreciated and well received...

[TravelingJ-cl]

Well guys, we went and found the pipes last week. As seen in this link, I found quite a few pipes! Right now I need to get them all cleaned up (as mentioned in that thread) before I get to smoking them. Is there a good way to do this at home? Or do I have to take them to a B&M? I'd rather do it all myself, it at all possible. I already have 3 picked out that I can't wait to fire up!

[TravelingJ-cl]

And another question...what makes a pipe a starter pipe? Doe they not last as long? Smoke as well? Have as nice of a finish?

[Bigfoot]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Some of those that you listed are only available in bulk form. Most of the McClelland Bulk blends are not available in tin form.

This arguement comes up from time to time with both sides claiming that theirs tastes better. For example, I have a buddy who loves Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake (FVF). But he only likes the tinned version. Even though the bulk version is a lot cheaper he will only buy it in tins. He claims that the tinned version tastes fresher to him. I never could tell the difference in the blends that I smoke that come in both bulk and tinned versions. There are some arguements that the bulk form allows more oxygen around the tobacco thus changing the taste a bit. Heck, I've had tinned versions that tasted a little different from one tin to another. I think that this is another one of those preference things. My motto is to try everything and then figure out what you like.

As far as the CAO/Dan blends. I agree with you!! I love Treasures of Ireland - Galway and Treasures of Ireland - Limerick. The only snag is that CAO stopped making pipe tobacco this year in order to focus more on their cigars. They were also the US distributer of the Dan tobaccos and they no longer do that as well. Not sure which blends were CAO and which ones were Dan blends but we may see a few of these disappear because of that. Also, until Dan Tobacco gets another US distributer (which may have already happened) there might be a bit of a shortage on some of these blends.

PHillips and King picked up Dan Tobacco. Any retailer can purchase it thru them.

Bigfoot

[Slow Triathlete]

Thanks for stepping up Robbie. It will help out tremendously!!

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by TravelingJ

Well guys, we went and found the pipes last week. As seen in this link, I found quite a few pipes! Right now I need to get them all cleaned up (as mentioned in that thread) before I get to smoking them. Is there a good way to do this at home? Or do I have to take them to a B&M? I'd rather do it all myself, it at all possible. I already have 3 picked out that I can't wait to fire up!

Justin,

I'll PM you with what you need to do. It will be too long for in the forum.

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot

PHillips and King picked up Dan Tobacco. Any retailer can purchase it thru them.

Bigfoot

I knew that Bigfoot would chime in sooner or later!!! Guys, don't let Brian's job fool you. He's a true Brother of the Briar!!

[dcsmoke]

I have a simple question. Do you tend to smoke your pipe all the way to the bottom and then dump the ash, or do you remove ash as you go? It seems I have more trouble keeping it lit when I have a bunch of ash on top. However, I wind up dumping a small amount of tobacco when I dump the ash. I guess I could try scooping it. Any thoughts?

[Dun killin time]

Originally Posted by dcsmoke

I have a simple question. Do you tend to smoke your pipe all the way to the bottom and then dump the ash, or do you remove ash as you go? It seems I have more trouble keeping it lit when I have a bunch of ash on top. However, I wind up dumping a small amount of tobacco when I dump the ash. I guess I could try scooping it. Any thoughts?

I also have a related question to the above...
After I get a bowl started, usually takes 4 to 5 lites, I'm good for about 35 to 45 min, then the bottom 1/4 of the bowl I have trouble keeping the fire going. I'm trying to build a little cake in the bottom of the bowls(all new pipes) so I'm trying to smoke the tobacco completely. I've tried dumping a little of the ash(helps some), stirring a little to break the top of the ash then retamping lightly(also helps some). I guess my question is, is there any thing I can do to improve this? ie... packing, tamping, or is this just the way it is?

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by dcsmoke

I have a simple question. Do you tend to smoke your pipe all the way to the bottom and then dump the ash, or do you remove ash as you go? It seems I have more trouble keeping it lit when I have a bunch of ash on top. However, I wind up dumping a small amount of tobacco when I dump the ash. I guess I could try scooping it. Any thoughts?

Good question. There is a lot of debate out there about this one as well. Some people say that you shouldn't dump, some people say you should dump halfway.

What I have found is that for me it depends on two things. The type of tobacco that you have and how big of a bowl your pipe has. Some tobacoo (and I haven't narrowed it down to a specific type) seems to either produce more ash or more dense of an ash and it tends to choke of the oxygen that your pipe needs to stay lit. If I notice that it is getting harder to keep lit I'll dump a bit off but not all. Ash does have some benefit to being there on top such as keeping the tobacco burning evenly and it keeps the tobacco from burning too hot or too fast. So when you dump be sure to keep a small layer of ash on top.

The other factor to me depends on the size or depth of the bowl that you are smoking. I have some pretty shallow pipes that I don't ever have to dump ash off of. But then again I have a very tall bowled pipe that I have to dump off twice at least.

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by Dun killin time

I also have a related question to the above...
After I get a bowl started, usually takes 4 to 5 lites, I'm good for about 35 to 45 min, then the bottom 1/4 of the bowl I have trouble keeping the fire going. I'm trying to build a little cake in the bottom of the bowls(all new pipes) so I'm trying to smoke the tobacco completely. I've tried dumping a little of the ash(helps some), stirring a little to break the top of the ash then retamping lightly(also helps some). I guess my question is, is there any thing I can do to improve this? ie... packing, tamping, or is this just the way it is?

There are several factors that could be at play here. I'll explain and then give you a tip to alleviate this.

The bottom of the bowl is a mysterious place. Most people have trouble burning down a whole bowl while they are beginning and I still know seasoned veterans who can't smoke a pipe down. A couple of things could be at play here. In an earlier post I explained how steam is produced as a natural process of smoking and that any extra moisture that is in the tobacco is also brought out. Well, most of that stuff sinks to the bottom of the bowl and then there might be some saliva that has run down the bit into the bottom of the bowl. All of this moisture really makes it difficult to keep the tobacco lit down at the bottom.

Also, another factor that could happen, is that throughout the smoke some people tend to tamp too hard and that really compresses the tobacco at the very bottom. So much so that Oxygen cannot get in there to keep things lit.

The only a few things that you can do, and they all come with experience, is to make sure that your tobacco is dried out enough, that you don't puff too much or too hard, and that you don't tamp the crap out of your bowl when you're smoking it.

Now here's the tip that most people follow when breaking in a new pipe. In order to get some cake built up in the bottom of the bowl, most people will take the first week and only load the pipe 1/3 of the way full and then smoke it down all the way. This way there isn't enough time for the moisture to build up. The next week they only fill it to the 1/2 way and then the next week 2/3 and then the next week a full pipe.