New Pipe Smoker With A Question? Ask an Old Fart

[Nick]

95% of the time I like to smoke tobacco that is drier than most would like. Other people will take the tobacco right out of the tin to the pipe as wet as it comes. It is really a matter of personal preference (like most things concerning pipe smoking). If you like you're tobacco to be a bit damp and springy then that is how you like it and no one should convince you otherwise. If you like it as dry as a bone then that is great too. Try experimenting with different moisture levels and see what you like. You may find you like one blend as dry as the desert but other blends you like to have quite moist. Part of the enjoyment of pipe smoking are the intricacies and experiments. Just remember to have fun and be patient.

Cheers
Nick

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Cyclone

Total Newbie piper question... Bear with me

What is the approximate humidity that tobacco should be kept at?

A buddy gave me a pipe and some tobacco and I tried it for the 1st time at a herf tonight.

The general consensus was that the tobacco was too dry.

The bright side is that the wife kind of like the smell

cheers,
Rudy

I never approached it from %rh; I just do it by a combination of touch and experience with what works and what doesn't. How useless is THAT advice?

Like a cigar, when it's too wet the stuff might taste a little sour and will surely keep going out. Unlike a cigar, you'll maybe get a gurgle in your pipe or, worse yet, you'll get some nasty drool roll back into your mouth. I hate too-wet tobak. If it's too dry, the smoke may run to the hot side and too-hot can snarf the flavor.

There is this conventional wisdom general rule about giving pipe tobak a pinch and seeing if it wads up or springs back. I lean to medium-dry - a pinch springs back but doesn't quite fall apart. A general rule, however is about as useful as solid brass billiard balls. Different types and textures of pipe tobak vary widely in feel, springiness, ideal moisture:taste ratio, etc. It seems like it comes back to trial, error and, finally experience.

There could be a great rule about rh% but I carry tobak with me, sometimes for days or weeks, and the touch-method works for me anywhere, anytime.

[Snake Hips]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

That's no way to taste a tobacco, you don't give it enough time to develop. Seriously!

Fill a pipe and smoke it. But, don't overtax your tongue or your taste buds. Try new blends on a fresh palate - just like tasting wines. If you smoke more than one blend, start with mild (less flavorful - burleys or VA) and work your way to more flavorful.

Ah, got it. Thanks for the tip

Didn't think about letting it develop.

[SSatVT]

Alright old farts, I have a question being a noob and all...

When I am smoking my corn cob, I have gotten it to stay lit for most of the bowl, but after I tamp or dump (depends on my mood, I guess) for the last time the tobacco stays lit and after a few more sips, it goes out. Is there something that I am doing wrong or is this just the nature of the pipe? there is usually about 5 minutes or so worth of tobacco let when this happens.

Thanks for the help, old wise ones.
Posted via Mobile Device

Originally Posted by SSatVT

Alright old farts, I have a question being a noob and all...

When I am smoking my corn cob, I have gotten it to stay lit for most of the bowl, but after I tamp or dump (depends on my mood, I guess) for the last time the tobacco stays lit and after a few more sips, it goes out. Is there something that I am doing wrong or is this just the nature of the pipe? there is usually about 5 minutes or so worth of tobacco let when this happens.

Thanks for the help, old wise ones.
Posted via Mobile Device

If it is like many corncobs I have seen, the draught hole is high. This causes the final "5 minutes worth" of your bowl to be near or below where the stem comes through. You aren't going to be drawing enough air THROUGH the tobacco to keep it lit. Not much you can do with it which is one of the reasons cobs are cheap.

[fissure]

Sorry if this has already been asked.....

What are some good non flavored baccy's for a pipe newb to start out with? I bought a sampler of Boswell flavored a couple years ago, and then switched to cigars. Now want to get back into the pipe a little more.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by fissure

Sorry if this has already been asked.....

What are some good non flavored baccy's for a pipe newb to start out with? I bought a sampler of Boswell flavored a couple years ago, and then switched to cigars. Now want to get back into the pipe a little more.

A clever BOTL on another board hit good-starter highlights with:

For VA: Rattray's Hal O The Wynd or Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake
For English: GL Pease Westminster or Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader
For Va/Per: AC Peterson Escudo or pipesandcigars.com Anniversary Kake
For Burley: pipesandcigars.com Butternut Burley

These are tested winners that most pipe smokers will acknowledge as top-drawer examples of their class. Or not. Personally, I like Squadron Leader (SL) a lot but think it's either oriental or an atypical english blend. I suggest SL but also a more classic alternative for english tobak, Stokkebyes Proper English.

[fissure]

Thanks Dan

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by fissure

Thanks Dan

Anything for Hockeytown; I love all Red Wings - even the ones made in Ohio. (The above advice came from morefifemusicanyone, BTW.)

[landhoney]

What is the "purpose" of very long pipes like these:
http://www.davidspiwak.com/Antique%20Pipes.html
I saw some paintings of pipes like these on a recent trip to Europe/Russia and wondered why these style pipes are not used anymore (seemingly).
Thank you for your help.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by landhoney

What is the "purpose" of very long pipes like these:
http://www.davidspiwak.com/Antique%20Pipes.html
I saw some paintings of pipes like these on a recent trip to Europe/Russia and wondered why these style pipes are not used anymore (seemingly).
Thank you for your help.

Great question!

The purpose of the longest, skinniest one is to smoke opium. Not my area of expertise but I've seen them around over the years.

The (now novelty) porcelain/tree-branch pipes were probably the bees knees until some bright boy figured out that briar made for a cool, long-lasting pipe chamber. Briar is recent on the scene - late 19th century; tabak started arriving in europe, I would guess, in the mid-1600s. Clay, metal and porcelain worked until something better came along.

This is strictly a guess; it'll hold water until something better comes along from a better guesser OR an actual pipe scientist.

[landhoney]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Great question!

The purpose of the longest, skinniest one is to smoke opium. Not my area of expertise but I've seen them around over the years.

The (now novelty) porcelain/tree-branch pipes were probably the bees knees until some bright boy figured out that briar made for a cool, long-lasting pipe chamber. Briar is recent on the scene - late 19th century; tabak started arriving in europe, I would guess, in the mid-1600s. Clay, metal and porcelain worked until something better came along.

This is strictly a guess; it'll hold water until something better comes along from a better guesser OR an actual pipe scientist.

Great answer!

Could you explain the long pipe vs. short, why have these long tobacco pipes gone "out of fashion"? Or have they not? I've heard that longer pipes cool the smoke more, is this their purpose? Or is there another advantage?

[Curly Cut]

someone did an actual test in temperature of the "smoke" from a churchwarden compared to a normal sized billiard and there wasn't a discernable difference in temp of the smoke/steam - not one that would be noticeable by the tongue.

i have a neighbor that loves his churchwarden pipes, but i attribute that to his pure laziness of not wanting to lift his arms to hold the pipe up by his chin - he'd rather fold his arms, rest his pipe on his forearm... any excess movement might make him pass out.
(not sarcasm - i have a pic of him smoking a churchwarden with his arms folded, pipe resting on his arm)

[TheTraveler]

Not a pipe newbie but I do have a question to ask for those older and wiser inmates. I've picked up a handful of estate briars at antique shops, yard sales and flea markets over the last year. All but two of them had a wad of unsmoked tobacco left in them and all but three had a crazy-thick cake on them. My questions are:
. Have smokers' habits changed that much in the last twenty years?
. Did 'old-timers' make a habit of leaving unsmoked tobacco in the bowl?
. Am I making too big a deal over these neglected pipes when compared to the (assumed) larger number of well-maintained pipes still in smokers' rotations?
. Why, oh why, did 'old-timers' leave such thick cakes in their pipes?

[Mister Moo]

...I've picked up a handful of estate briars at antique shops, yard sales and flea markets over the last year. All but two of them had a wad of unsmoked tobacco left in them and all but three had a crazy-thick cake on them. My questions are:
. Have smokers' habits changed that much in the last twenty years?
. Did 'old-timers' make a habit of leaving unsmoked tobacco in the bowl?
. Am I making too big a deal over these neglected pipes when compared to the (assumed) larger number of well-maintained pipes still in smokers' rotations?
. Why, oh why, did 'old-timers' leave such thick cakes in their pipes?

I've wondered about those guys too. My take is they weren't thinking too hard. I have purchased a couple of trashed estate pipes of real quality that were, fortunately, recoverable. Mostly, though, the trashed ones I see were pipes without any particular merit then or now.

Take a not-too-whippy Grabow from Sparta, NC, fill it with goop-oid aromatic drugstore stuff 10-15 times a week and, voila - caked thick and nasty in a year. Two years and maybe 11 pipecleaners later you're halfway thru a smoke and think, "Feh! This pipe tastes like dog pooter. I will go back to General Hardware and buy a new one." Old stinky, half-smoked and never cleaned, goes to the back of the dresser drawer until 40-years later when the kids are cleaning things out. I got a great Brakner like this recently - most of the rest have been Grabows or no-names.

[TheTraveler]

Thanks, Dan. I was thinking along those lines too. Hey, their loss is certainly our gain!

[alley00p]

By way of introduction, I used to smoke pipes back in the '70s, but sort of got away from the habit when my favorite tobacco disappeared from the scene. My pipes all got packed in an old cigar box and disappeared somewhere in the house when we did some major remodeling in the late '80s.

I decided to try pipe smoking again recently, but since I can't find my old pipes right now, and I missed out on some of the recent sales in the WTS/WTB/WTT thread, I headed over to Ebay. I picked up a couple of estate pipes that look decent and will try them out when they arrive.

While searching, I came upon this device: "PIPE CLEANING RETORT - Item #270434301489". Has anyone ever used something like this to clean pipes, especially estate pipes that are especially dirty?

Thanks in advance! I'm sure that I'll be back with more questions for you esteemed "Old Farts", as soon as my "new" pipes arrive next week!

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by alley00p

...While searching, I came upon this device: "PIPE CLEANING RETORT - Item #270434301489". Has anyone ever used something like this to clean pipes, especially estate pipes that are especially dirty?

A retort will clean out a pipe faster (a whole lot faster) than a conventional bowl treatment with cotton ball (or coarse kosher salt) and Everclear.

If you're a pro and need to regularly clean pipes and/or can't wait 12-hours for a salt/booze treatment a retort does the trick. I think salt (or cotton ball) and alcohol does as well, just slower. If I had to sanitize pipes often I use a retort; for infrequent (civilian) needs, a soak is less bother.

[alley00p]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

A retort will clean out a pipe faster (a whole lot faster) than a conventional bowl treatment with cotton ball (or coarse kosher salt) and Everclear.

If you're a pro and need to regularly clean pipes and/or can't wait 12-hours for a salt/booze treatment a retort does the trick. I think salt (or cotton ball) and alcohol does as well, just slower. If I had to sanitize pipes often I use a retort; for infrequent (civilian) needs, a soak is less bother.

Thanks, Dan! I know I read the kosher salt and everclear method here somewhere; do you have the link available without having to go through 9 pages of posts (if it's in this thread...)?

I'm hoping that my "new" pipes will be here next week, and I'll be able to join the ranks of CA pipesters!

[Curly Cut]

Originally Posted by alley00p

While searching, I came upon this device: "PIPE CLEANING RETORT - Item #270434301489". Has anyone ever used something like this to clean pipes, especially estate pipes that are especially dirty?

i own a retort and have used it a few times (need to use it again soon).

you end up boiling the alcohol in the end of the retort, the vapors go upward into the pipe, then turn back to liquid (which is plenty hot/steamy), and it does a better job of penetrating the pores of the wood and whatever type of gunk is built up inside the stem areas. it helps remove the 'ghost' a whole lot faster/better than a standard "salt/alcohol" treatment, or the old fart way of "smoking out the ghost" does.

be careful if you do it. you can melt the end of the stem (button) and the insided of the bit. let it cool before you go reaming the stem/bit with a bristle cleaner (or any cleaner), or you could end up with stem goop blocking your airway, and then the pipe isn't smokeable unless you send it to someone who can open up the airway of the bit again.

i need to use it more often, not that my pipes need it, rather to get better at it. there have been some moments while using it. all the vapor comes out the top of the bowl, through the cotton ball, reforms into liquid on the outside and ruins the finish; i melted the button on my Big Ben; almost messed up the inside of my Karl Eriks airway by running a cleaner through it too early.

i'd suggest getting one if you smoke often; change blends in pipes often; or are looking to refurbish a lot of older estate pipes.