[Blue_Nose]

FuBaR FuBaR:

Am I supposed to pack the bowl tightly? Because I find I lose the ember before the whole bowl is finished.

Ah yes, I love talking about this...

What I did:

I took a clean sheet of paper and layed it out on a table, and took the "right amount" of tobacco from the pouch, and sprinkled it over the paper. This was to break up any clumps, etc.... I'm not sure how long the cut of the tobacco you're using is, but I preferred it to be shorter, since it was easier to load the pipe.

So, the next step is to sprinkle (ie, not pack in) the tobacco into the bowl, until it's full. It's obviously fairly loose now, so you press that down until it only fills about half the bowl.... then you refill the bowl, push it down 1/4 of the depth of the bowl, etc etc until it's fairly tightly packed at the top, and relatively loose at the bottom. If it's too tight at the bottom, it'll go out, and it sometimes blocks the air flow. I'd then take the "dusty bits" left over and dump those on top of all that.... I find it helps to keep it lit at first.... like kindling

Now, for smoking, you want to take smooth, slow, consistant puffs... you don't want to see bright red ashes, or you're smoking it too hot/fast. A nice glow is all that you need, and you want to be able to keep it burning as long as possible.

Oh, I almost forgot: you should have a tamper... looks like a stick with a flat bit on the end, for tamping the tobacco... comes on a pipe tool (hey, I've used old 4" spikes I found out on the deck, in a jam.. anything small and flat will do). You use this, once you have it half smoked or so, to repack the unburnt tobacco at the bottom, since wasn't as tight to begin with. You should only do this maybe once or twice... you don't want to press the fire out, or jam the ashes into the stem.

Anyway, that's it for now... keep practicing!

[Jaime_Souviens]

This is a short bit from the 'Pipe tips' link in my above post. Says the same thing, but I like how it's put.

$1:

There is no great secret to keeping a pipe lit. Proper packing and a little attention while smoking makes all the difference in the world. Pack a pipe in three layers. The first layer should be very loose, the second a little firmer, and the last layer firm yet with some spring. An old saying goes "pack the first layer with a child's hand, the second with a woman's hand, and the third with a man's hand".

[VitaminC]

Damn Blue Nose, you should write a book about this stuff......LOL

That would make a good coffee table book, pictures of different "antique" and new pipes from across Canada, with stories of how they were passed down the generations, and tips on how to smoke and care for the pipes, etc.....

[Blue_Nose]

Well, here's my story:

Grandfather passed away, and my grandmother didn't touch his desk in his study... when she moved, my uncle asked for his pipe rack, but I managed to get one from her before it was shipped off.

My dad: "Why would you give him that? He's just going to smoke with it."

Grandmother: "No, he just wants something of his grandfather's. He wouldn't think of smoking that old thing"

They were both half right.

It's nothing fancy... just a plain drugstore variety thing.

[Arctic_Menace]

Ah, pipes......Tis the finest hydroponic in all The Shire......

[FuBaR]

Alright, I think I understand you. I dont have a tamper though, but I'll have to find something to use.

All I have now is half a pack of Captain Blacks. Theyre pipe tobacco, so I just cut them open and dump it in the bowl, but I'll try that packing technique, thanks.

[denmns]

I have never smoked at all in my life, but I do enjoy the smell of a quality tobacco in a pipe, whether it is wine, rum, or other flavor.

I also like the smell of a good Montechristo cigar (sorry if I spelled it wrong)

[danikyvor]

I love the smell of pipe smoke!

I bought my husband a clay pipe, but the bowl is too deep for him to get any real enjoyment out of it. The guy that made it put the hole a bit too far up, so my husband would smoke the top half of the pipe, but couldn't get to the bottom half of the tobacco. If you get my gist.