New Pipe Smoker With A Question? Ask an Old Fart

[Mister Moo]

Attention new pipe smokers!

All pipe and tobacco questions answered.
All pipe and tobacco problems solved.

Terms of Service: to ask you have to have a serious question; to reply you must have a minimum two years pipe smoking experience. (No snob zone.) There are no stupid questions. Nobody can beat someone with a "Use the search funtion" lead pipe. There will be no rude replies no matter how many times your question has been asked - nosir, not in THIS thread. Maybe a little tiny bit of sarcasm though, just to keep it interesting.

Bring it on.

[Mister Moo]

Somebody better ask a question pretty darn soon.

Old farts don't live forever.

[schnell987]

OK, I'll go first....

1) Is it really necessary to rest the pipe for a day or two to let it "dry out" before using it again? If you don't do this, what will happen?

2) Do you need to have a separate pipe(s) for aromatic tobaccos or can you scrape the bowl to get the ash off and then smoke the Virginia or English tobaccos without the aromatic flavor bleeding over?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Kevin

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by schnell987

OK, I'll go first....

1) Is it really necessary to rest the pipe for a day or two to let it "dry out" before using it again? If you don't do this, what will happen?

2) Do you need to have a separate pipe(s) for aromatic tobaccos or can you scrape the bowl to get the ash off and then smoke the Virginia or English tobaccos without the aromatic flavor bleeding over?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Kevin

Great questions, Kevin - I have no idea.



Next.



jk.

Dry time. No real dry time for cobs or meers - just let them cool down between scraping/tapping and a refill. Excellent road pipes; one will do for a week. Briar holds moisture and, smoke after smoke, it'll maybe get swampy down there. The swamp gets soggier and soggier, bowl after bowl, and makes for a wet, (steam) hot smoke. Old guys say one pipe gets one smome per week; other old guys say smoke a pipe a couple of times in a day and put it up for a while; and everyones grandfather only had one beat-to-snot old Dr. Grabow they carried eveywhere and smoked 11-teen times/day. I'm an old guy and I don't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday but I do remember how many smokes a certain briar needed before it last got put up to dry out. You can't rely on a bunch of effin' old guys - smoke your briar a few times and look down into it with a flashlight - you can tell when it's wet by looking (or by smoking). I'll smoke dryish tobac 1-3 times/day in the same pipe and come back to it after a while. Mostly 1-2. Three in a day means I got desperate for some reason.

Ghosting. Bet your ass pipes ghost but when you're new to pipes it's hard to tell what's what. Tell you what - what do you care what anyone else thinks? Smoke what you like in whatever pipe you want. Sooner or later you'll figure out what ghosts in what pipes (and what doesn't). Or - basically consider a meer for anything, any time. A cob is good for aromatics, virginnies and burlies. A briar? Once you get latakia stink in most briars it'll dash a wonderful, piquant, nuanced virginia/perique all to pieces. Different folks have different ideas about what is good and bad for briar - I start a (new to me) briar on virginia or virginia burley. After 20-30 1/2 bowl smokes, if it drools or gets too hot I'll decide, ok, "Now you're an english or burley blended pipe."

If you take a favored virginia pipe to aromatics and then back to virginia, you'll figure out the ghost soon enough. WTH? Ghost can be banished with salt and Everclear in 24 hours. In the end, no bad ghosts - only learning experiences.

[schnell987]

Terrific responses, thank you!

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

A briar? Once you get latakia stink in most briars it'll dash a wonderful, piquant, nuanced virginia/perique all to pieces.

Ghost can be banished with salt and Everclear in 24 hours. In the end, no bad ghosts - only learning experiences.

So I am wondering about lat ghosts in my briars. I had smoked English blends (some up to 50% lat) in all my pipes, but I've only been smoking pipes about two months. Somewhere around month-one I realized what I was doing and dedicated two pipes to lat-heavy blends and sequestered the other two - one for VA's and one for VA/Pers. Since I'm still new to pipes, they could have lat-stink in them and I simply don't realize it yet because I don't know any better.

I guess my question is how fast does a lat ghost take hold? Will four bowls of English baccy do it? Will it go away after a few bowls of VA, or is it time to bust out the alcohol?

[tedrodgerscpa]

I have a question for an old fart...

What's the best way to prep flake tobacco for smoking?

Not sure that 'flake' is the best way to describe it, but I'm talking about something that looks like this...



disclaimer: picture ruthlessly stolen from the internet

I do O.K. with the "Cake" style, but these big ol' flakes confuse me a bit!

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by petewho

So I am wondering about lat ghosts in my briars. I had smoked English blends (some up to 50% lat) in all my pipes, but I've only been smoking pipes about two months. Somewhere around month-one I realized what I was doing and dedicated two pipes to lat-heavy blends and sequestered the other two - one for VA's and one for VA/Pers. Since I'm still new to pipes, they could have lat-stink in them and I simply don't realize it yet because I don't know any better.

I guess my question is how fast does a lat ghost take hold? Will four bowls of English baccy do it? Will it go away after a few bowls of VA, or is it time to bust out the alcohol?

Lat stink takes hold pretty fast if you ask me. It will eventually go away but it also depends on how long and how much you smoked in that pipe. It's always nice to start off a new blend genre with a clean pipe (salt & alcohol treatment) but it's not 100% necessary. Your Virginia blends might just taste and smell a little funky for the first several bowls.

[dunng]

What's the best way to get started? Cheap starter pipes? Basic tobacco? Necessary tools? Thanks!

Greg (A.K.A Reformed Poddie)

[BigFrank]

Is it necessary to clean a pipe in between every smoke?
Could you smoke a few times before cleaning it?
Should the pipe be cleaned before being put away?

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by BigFrank

Is it necessary to clean a pipe in between every smoke?
Could you smoke a few times before cleaning it?
Should the pipe be cleaned before being put away?

Different strokes, B'ank. Some are more antiseptic than others.

Personally, I like to put a pipe back up clean. I'll always spit-clean the pipe rim with a paper napkin from the heap of boosted fast-food restaurant collection napkins; a swipe or two with a bristle and/or a fluffy pipe cleaner and a bent pipecleaner swipe of the bowl to remove and remaining tobacco chunks, unburned leaf (if any) and loose ash. The, last but not least, a hard puff to blow out remaining ashy powder. I rarely put a pipe away without a modest cleaning.

Others say... ?

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Different strokes, B'ank. Some are more antiseptic than others.

Personally, I like to put a pipe back up clean. I'll always spit-clean the pipe rim with a paper napkin from the heap of boosted fast-food restaurant collection napkins; a swipe or two with a bristle and/or a fluffy pipe cleaner and a bent pipecleaner swipe of the bowl to remove and remaining tobacco chunks, unburned leaf (if any) and loose ash. The, last but not least, a hard puff to blow out remaining ashy powder. I rarely put a pipe away without a modest cleaning.

Others say... ?

Agreed with one exception, breaking in a new pipe.

Once the pipes has cooled, use a pipe tool to loosen the ash and any dottle in the bottom of the bowl, cover the whole with your thumb and give the pipe a good shake to coat the chamber, then tap the pipe to remove the loose matter.

Do not swab or blow out the bowl, what has clung to the walls will help build up a cake.

[mhailey]

I'm not a new pipe smoker, but I'm definitely not an Old Fart, so I ask: in line with mixing different blends to create your own flavor, does anyone layer different tobacco blends in the bowl? If so, what blends are used?

Matt

[sevans105]

Is it possible to use cigar tobacco in a pipe?

I have a couple of cc's that were gifted to me, yet horribly damaged. The tobacco is fine, just the structure is ruined. My fiancé has a bunch of pipes that her grandfather used decades ago and I was wondering is that might work?

Any thoughts?

whats the best way to pack a pipe? How tight should it be? My first shot was way too tight.

I have the following tools Pipe Cleaners, pipe lighter and a Czech pipe tool. Do I need anything else?

what is the best way to keep pipe tobbaco? Also, Some general care for my pipe? its a Savinelli Pisa.

Thanks FOGs!

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by darb85

whats the best way to p...

O M ... somebody else, please, save him from the "P" word!

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

O M ... somebody else, please, save him from the "P" word!

Shall I use Load? Ive figured out by mistake that you dont load it in there and mash down, but I havent figured out what exactly im supposed to do I suppose.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by darb85

Shall I use Load? Ive figured out by mistake that you dont load it in there and mash down, but I havent figured out what exactly im supposed to do I suppose.

Anything but "pack".

Three stage, or child/woman/man method works for most people. There are other filling methods that smokers employ but the 3-stage is pretty much foolproof

1. let loose tobak fall in under gravity until full - push down halfway;
2. evenly/gently wad up some tobak, enough to half-fill the bowl, and push it atop the gravity fill;
3. firmly wad a smaller clod of tobak and push it atop the previous fill.

Pipe should end up not quite full to the brim and draw should be easy - lightly restricted at most. New briar should be only half-filled for a couple of dozen smokes. Light evenly, puff and char the top. Tamp smooth and relight if needed. Burn should be even and nothing is supposed to end up in your mouth except smoke.

[Mister Moo]

Yet another word on the "P" word. New pipe smokers think they should "pack" a pipe. I eschew the use of the word pack relative to pipes. It's the wrong message. Pack is not what you should do with a pipe. Everything about "packing" a pipe ends up with a pipe that is improperly filled and won't smoke properly. Fill a pipe. Load a pipe. Prime a pipe. Prepare a pipe. Caress a bowl with tobacco if you must, but never PACK a pipe. A packed pipe by implication is a carelessly prepared and, ultimately, PLUGGED UP pipe.

And while we're on the subject. A befouled packed pipe will not suddenly get made right by using that pointy poker-thingie on the multi-tool, either. That pointy poker thingie has a couple of uses but it isn't much good for correcting a pipe that is overstuffed and rapidly expanding into a rock-solid blockage of the airhole. Fergettabowdit. It is VERY good for getting the squirter thingie on the Zippo fluid can lifted open, though.

Pack a bag.
Pack a punch.
Pack a bearing.
Pack a lunch.

Don't pack a pipe.

This post is my Christmas present to all the new pipe smokers who are wandering these halls. Happy day.

[schnell987]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

O M ... somebody else, please, save him from the "P" word!

This is definately going to be added to my subscribed threads.