Pipe Noob... A Million Questions

[Pilon]

Originally Posted by rhmalone

I've been an avid cigar smoker now for 3 years and had it not been for an article in the most recent Cigar Mag. on vintage pipe tobacco blends, I doubt my interest in pipes would have ever been stirred. Nonetheless, they have and here I am... with many questions.

While, I have what seems like a million questions, I'll limit it to a couple here.

I have a pipe (a used estate pipe I got off of Ebay cheap)... I'm not sure if this was a wise move or not, but it's where I'm at.

I have a Czech tool, pipe cleaners and even a bit of tobacco the B&M gave me to try.

Q1: Which is preferred for lighting, matches or lighter and am I correct that my cigar torch lighter should not be used?

Q2:I know pipes tend to go out much more than cigars, what's the general rule for smoking... how often should you puff?

Q3: Does it matter how far down you smoke the tobacco? I know when a cigar begins to turn bitter or hot it's reached its end. Does a pipe offer similar end indications?

Thanks for whatever advice you can give me. Already, I'm learning tons about pipes and am excited to begin this next chapter in my smoking adventures.

I'm not an expert but I can give my

Q1: I use matches but you can go through alot depending how often the pipe goes out. There are pipe lighters that have a traditional flame but use butane so it burns clean. Torch lighters should not be used.

Q2: pipe smoking should be a relaxing hobby you don't puff the crap out of it but puff often, slowly and delicately to get the flavor of the tobacco and let it burn slowly and consistently. when you first light the pipe the tobacco will expand so you will need to tamp it down lightly to keep it even and allow the flame to burn downward.

Q3: you typically want to break in a new pipe by smoking only half bowl fulls of pipe tobacco the first 10-18 times or so and you must burn it all the way to the bottom to get an even caking of carbon on the inside to protect the bowl. never use a pointed object to clean out the bowl either, use the scraper. Pipe tobacco may burn extremely hot if you have some really sweet aromatics since the caking on the tobacco and sugars cause it to burn hotter thus resulting in tongue bite sometimes(burning the tongue basically). An estate pipe is more than likely already broken in, but should be professionally cleaned and sweetened which some B&Ms may do for a very small fee.

Good luck, I am on my second winter smoking pipe tobacco and started with aromatics, now I am trying Virginians, English and Oriental blends.