Tips and Tricks
Everyone wants to get better at anything they do. This is especially true with smoking pipes. Sometimes you may have learned how to do something wrong and have just done it that way because you didn't know any better.
Well this article on pipe smoking tips and smoking tricks you might just learn a thing or two. Check out the tips and see if they help out your pipe smoking experience. If you've got a tip feel free to post it in the comments section. I'll add it to the list to help out the next pipe smoker that stops by.
Tips for Choosing your First Pipe
- Don't buy a brand new briar pipe as your first pipe. I recommended you purchase a corn cob pipe for your first cheap tobacco pipe, but if that doesn't suite your fancy consider a meerschaum or an broken-in estate pipe.
- Purchase a couple different styles of corn cob pipes to get a feel for what is comfortable to you. It will make your decision much easier when you want to upgrade to a briar or meerschaum pipe.
Tips for Choosing Pipe Tobacco
- Captain Black pipe tobacco is the most popular tobacco ever sold. A must try.
- Beginner pipe smokers are highly recommended to start out smoking an aromatic blend of pipe tobacco.
- Try to smoke several bowls of the same tobacco to get a good feeling for the taste. Mixing several tobacco in the same pipe will change the taste, so be careful how much mixing and matching you do.
- New tins of tobacco may need moisture adjustments. Generally a new tin is a tad wet, so let it sit out on a napkin for a few minutes before packing your pipe.
- Never pinch your pipe tobacco when packing your pipe.
- Reference TobaccoReviews for the best tobacco reviews on the net.
General Pipe Smoking Tips
- Pack the tobacco very loose on the bottom. Remember your pipe is like a furnace which feeds the flame from the bottom. Packing your pipe to tightly on the bottom will make it difficult to draw air through the stem.
- The draw on your pipe should have little to no resistance. Experiment. Find what works for you.
- If your pipe goes out while smoking don't be scared to relight.
- If you have to relight consider dumping some of the ash from the bowl.
Comments
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So, I’m not yet smoking my pipe but I did just order it. I found this guide to be very helpful with alot of the major questions I needed to ask. One thing I’d like to interject is that on EBAY you can get some decent briar pipes for pretty cheap. A buddy of mine and I just bought a 13 pipe lot for 20 dollars. This might seem like overkill but, I’m positive out of those 13 I’ll find one that I like and learn to love.
Hey, thanks for the guide. I’m a ciggy smoker,trying to cut down. I have a briar pipe a while,and just got some peterson delux. By reading the guide and comments I see I’ve been puffing too fast,letting the bowl get too hot etc, but one thing I find very unsatisfying is that every pull on the pipe seems to be more air than smoke,I can actually hear the air being pulled through. It’s kind of feels like I’m just sucking on a straw.Any suggestions,I’ve tried packing as described here but still the same I’d hate to think it’s supposed to be like this.
I use the Frank method. If you search Google, you should be able to find the videos with Herr Frank himself. I pack my pipes basically the way he shows, but I don’t use a torch lighter on my pipes. So ignore the lighter instructions. I use a Vertigo pipe lighter or box/book matches to light. If you end up packing it too tightly, the pick on a three-in-one pipe tool is handy for making an air hole or two in the wad of tobacco.
Hope this helps.
How much ounces of tobacco do you guys use per week?
last week I have purchesed a brier pipe and a corn cob one, and bought a packet of “burkum riff cavendushh cherry”. It is alright, after i finish with that packet i am going to get another two pipes so i can have one for each type of tabacco so i can, over time see what i like.
At first i thought it would take me longer to load the tabacoo right so i dont have to relight 12 times in the first few mineuts, but besides the first two attempts i have been doing alright, only having to relight it 1-3 times. And it takes me about 20-30 mins to smoke the pipe. But i found that time passes by quick when i do smoke the pipe, what seemed like 10 mins was 20 mins, i was just so relaxed. I sometimes walk around my property while i smoke. Last night i was sitting on the varrendah watching the sunset behind the mountains and smoking the pipe. And i never smoked inside the house, i never did or will.
And only got what you called :toung bite” once or twice.
On a final note, i love smoking the pipe, better than ciggerets, which isnt as relaxing or enjoyfull.
Thank you.
PS, about my third time i inhaled out of habbit of ciggeretts and let me say, i felt light headed, and result was dog food all the way down my front shirt, i was feeding up at the time, and being a tall bloke i dodnt need to open there huge gates to feed em, i was reaching over the top to drop down into one of my youngest gaurd dogs dish is when i inhaled and cause me being light headed and a bit dizzy and caused me to miss the top of the fence and dropped on my shirt. LOL, lesson learned.
Yah, I hate that. I dropped some dog food onto my second shirt one night while looking after my 80 acre estate. Two dobie pinches, a big briar bowl and 40 year old port. I went to drop my woolies by the lake and my pup smeared his face on my knickers. I was laughing so hard I spilt their bolie of gnashing on my shirt – a bad day for silk undershirts! No trusting those canine coodies! Oh qua tan sin wan! (Chinese for don’t let your dog eat your shorts)! LOL keep smokin yanks!
Ok, I’m a 57 year old woman who has been thinking about trying pipe smoking. I have a couple of questions, please.
1. Does one get ‘addicted’ to the tobacco as much as with cigarettes? My 20 year old son smokes them and already has a nasty morning cough – I wouldn’t want that.
2. I have asthma – will that get worse with pipe smoking?
3. I would like a very small danty looking pipe – where can I find something like that? I am really drawn to meerchaums!
Thanks so much for your time and attention!
Dear J.Hamilton: The first two questions, you would have to research them thoroughly on your own accord and determine what is best for you healthwise, and other. The last question, look at the Dr.Grabow Westbrook series. These have longer stems and shanks, and smaller bowls. Remember, there’s no law that says you must fill your bowl to the limit. Reduce the amount of pipe tobacco and enjoy a short smoke. By time it has any chance of turning foul on you, the smoke in all probability, be over. It’s sensible, it conserves expensive and over-taxed pipe tobacco, and it is called, moderation. Best of luck to you.
I’ve read through many of the posts on this page, and I see a lot of experienced smokers saying “slow down, enjoy the experience – my pipes last 45-60 minutes”…
…can you be more specific about how the bowl lasts 45-60 minutes? For example – the amount of time you take between puffs? Is it a puff ever 1-2 minutes? Is it a puff once every 10 minutes? And if it’s the latter – I am having trouble understanding how the bowl stays lit during that time.
In any case – some specific time measurements would help. My tendency is to drag on the pipe like a cigarette – which I know is wrong – but what is the average amount of time that an experienced pipe smoker will wait between puffs? I mean – do you set the pipe down for 3 or 4 minutes before you pick it up and puff again??
thanks,
Travis
Hi Travis,
This Saturday I smoked Best Brown #2 in an Ashton Old Church for roughly 2 hours while at a coffee house in my neighborhood.
I occasionally laid my pipe down to play cards or take a short break. Otherwise I was puffing away consistently.
I think this is something you learn during the course of smoking your pipe – namely your own style of puffing. There are other factors that contribute such as bowl and chamber size, packing method, and type of blend.
I am wispy puffer. I prefer the soft draw style while smoking my pipe. I get enough smoke in my mouth that is to my satisfaction. I also don’t smoke too hot, generally, so that I try and get the taste of the varying flavors in the blend.
I have a friend, who I respect as a pipe smoker, that is the opposite – he prefers to take deep draws with big plumes of smoke. He gets a lot of pleasure from smoking pipes. It is just isn’t my style.
In the end it’s all about individual style.
So, they question: “How long will the smoke last?” Quite a few variables at work here. How relaxed are you? How moist is the tobacco? What types of tobacco comprise the pipe smoking mixture you are using? What is the bore size of the pipe’s bowl? What is the thickness of the pipe bowl wall? How clean is the pipe? Is the shank/bowl orifice obstructed or reduced in diameter due to fouling? Are you smoking indoors? What are the ambient air currents about the pipe like? Are you annoyed or distracted? What is the internal cubic capacity of the pipe bowl? Is the pipe air dried or in constant use, meaning having absorbed moisture content within the bowl? Are you whisping your smoke to savor, or attempting to put out a smoke screen to cover a battleship in three minutes? Many, many, variables. Bear in mind that the specific additives found in cigarette or even roll-yer-own’s are missing from pipe tobacco and you are being challenged to something new… You are actually tasting delicious pipe tobacco flavor, and learning new tastes. You must now develop a cadence or timing, similar to what the great composers wrote into classical music. Pipe smoking too, will come from your soul as you find what works for you. There basically is no “wrong” way, you are merely doing something “different”. The only way to expedite this learning process, is to ask questions and like a puppy, find an old dog, to learn how to “raise your leg”, rather than squat down, as did your previous teachers. Relax. Slow it down, nobody’s chasing you. Concentrate on being kind to yourself (and others). Read text material, no for speed, but in a spoken word cadence, and your pipe responds in kind. I’m riding motorcycles since 1969, where your eyes go, so does the motorcycle. Understand that your pipe reacts to your physical state, your emotional state, your mental state, and your inner core soul’s state of being. In all probability, your pipe smoking is what your family and friends will come to bear note of you, now and in the future years to come. Ther’s a website, Angel-something-or-other; search, “famous pipe smokers” and scroll to the Angel-whatever, site. Look at each and every one of the people photographed. There is a commonality in them all, beyond the pipe itself. Think. The very same thing, is inside of you. Master yourself, and enjoy life. Your pipe, is your faithful ally. Best of luck to you all.
Does anyone know the best way to clean the bits? I can clean them and put olive oil on them and they look okay for awhile, but the awful stuff is still there waiting to show its ugly head as soon as the pipe sits for awhile. Help?
hi all,
i have been a smoker for well over 8 yrs now an decided to take up a pipe to see what its like an must say after my 2nd day im enjoying it more than i thought i would.
although i am worried about my pipe i have a medical condition an my hands sweat a lot.
i always have to use a holder for my rollies or they get drenched an are no good..
will this have a bad effect on my bruyere pipe?
thanks
ben
Hello everyone, I’m a 23 year old who has been smoking a pipe for a few months now and I hav to say it is the most relaxing thing I have ever done. It is a nice way to relax after a hard day at university. Anyway I’m going on. I found the best way to pack a pipe so it doesn’t go out is to pack it the ‘normal’ 3 way technique then once that is completed place your thumb over the tobacco and turn the pipe about 6times in a clockwise direction. This twists all the tobacco together in the bowl giving maximum amout of tobacco touching other pieces of tobacco. Give it a try. I hav to light pipe once to false light then once to light after and that’s it.