Pipe Smoking Guide: Art of Smoking a Tobacco Pipe
Now that you’ve got your favorite style of corn cob pipe, the best smelling aromatic tobacco you could find, and a couple of simple pipe accessories let’s figure out how to put it all together. One other quick requirement I would suggest is a park bench or a comfortable rocking chair on the front porch. It’s important for you to remember that learning how to pack, light, and smoke your pipe is something you’ll learn to perfect. It’s not going to happen the first time you light it up no matter how many pipe smoking guides you read. It’s something you need experience with in order to get better, so take your time and relax. As with anything in life learn from your mistakes.
Packing Your Pipe
1. Clean Your Pipe - It’s vital to ensure your pipe is free of any previous ashes or condensation for a previous smoke. Run a pipe cleaner through the stem and then blow on the stem to ensure nothing is blocking the air passage to the bowl. I would highly suggest you turn the bowl away from your face otherwise you’ll end up with a face full of dottle (ashes and unburned tobacco).
2. Prepare the Tobacco - Remove the approximate amount of tobacco you’ll need to fill the bowl and place it on a napkin. Make sure the tobacco is free of any clumps and that the moisture level of the tobacco isn’t to wet. If it is let it sit out for a couple of minutes while you take in the fresh air of the evening.
3. Filling the Bowl - Loosely fill the bowl with tobacco. At anytime while filling DO NOT press down on the tobacco with your thumb or fingers. Also don’t pinch the tobacco so tightly that you create clumps which you got rid of in step 2. Now with your handy tamper tool press the tobacco down until its springy. The bowl should probably be around half to 3/4 of the way full. Remember the tobacco should be springy not rock hard. Take a test draw from the stem. Is there any resistance? If so dump out the tobacco or stir it up with your pick and start over. Otherwise fill the bowl back up and tamp it down again. Take another test draw. Again there should be little to no resistance. If there is more resistance the breathing through a drinking straw, dump or stir the tobacco and start over. If the tobacco still isn’t even with the top of the bowl add more tobacco and tamp it down so that it’s now even with the top. Another test draw should yield only a little resistance.
Lighting Your Pipe
The False Light - With the pipe between your lips, light your match and apply it to the tobacco in a circular motion. You’ll want to make very shallow puffs on the pipe. You’ll probably see the tobacco swell up or unravel in the bowl. That is completely normal and the main purpose to the charring light. This expels any extra moisture from the tobacco and prepares the tobacco for the True Light.
The True Light - After the false light the tobacco may not be at the same level - the top of the bowl. Use your tamper to lightly compress the tobacco back to the top of the bowl. Be extra careful here, this is where many beginners make their biggest mistake. Relight the match and again apply it to the tobacco in a circular motion. Again a series of shallow puffs will be necessary to stoke the flame. If done properly the tobacco should not unravel or puff up like it did during the false light. Not its time to enjoy your pipe!
Smoking Your Pipe
If you’ve done everything right you should be enjoying your first pipe smoking experience. Bask in it. Enjoy it. You’ll eventually get into a rhythm. If the smoke entering your mouth is hot you’re going to fast. Slow down and take long rhythmic puffs.
If your pipe goes out while between puffs don’t worry. That’s perfectly normal. Just relight as you did in the True Light step above. Many pipe smokers will relight at least once during a smoke. You may find the pipe getting a little juicy as you smoke. To avoid this try keeping your mouth as dry as possible. You may want to consider running a pipe cleaner down the stem to clear it out. Let the pipe cleaner sit for a moment and withdraw. Whatever you do, don’t take the stem off the pipe while it’s still hot, as this will eventually cause the stem to get loose or even break. If at any time your pipe starts to taste nasty, stop. Pipe smoking is always supposed to be pleasant and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t always be so. This is most likely caused by smoking to fast or the pipe not being properly broken in.
Thank you so much for spelling it out! A lot of places tell you how to purchase the stuff and what to look for to enjoy it…but not HOW to enjoy it! You are awesome!! (The only thing I would love better is a picture to go with the explanation!)
wat is your problem your just asking to kill your self by smoking lifes to short 2 waste
if you dont like pipe smoking you should not be in this forum so don’t comment on our habits when i’m sure you have plenty that we could comment on as well. And for the whole killing yourself slowly thing, smoking a pipe is not even as dangerous to ones health as eating a burger from mcdonalds (which i’m sure you’ve done) for the reason that you don’t actually inhale the pipe smoke into your lungs just your mouth.
sherry before you start on people for smoking, take a good look at your self. If you take a breath of air from in your home, out side, or where ever, you killing your self. the air that you take a breath from, the food that you eat, is killing you. so until you dont do any of them, back off! this is the land of the free. its people like you that is taking that freedom away!!
Do you think you are going to live forever? No one knows when their time will come. You could be driving to the grocery and BAM!! some lady talking on a cell phone
could hit you and the fat laady sings for you. There are some people that don’t want to go to the grave all nice and “peaceful” like in a big bed surrounded by wailing family but instead to go through life and end up sliding into their hole sideways with a beer in one hand and a smoke in the other exclaiming: “WOW! WHAT A RIDE!!”
Although pipe smoking doesn’t cause lung cancer like cigarettes, it does have an equal chance of causing lip or mouth cancer. However, those are much more treatable and much less common than lung cancer.
I am looking for a pipe named FALCON made in England. Any info?
One thing I haven’t seen on the site is how to break in a new pipe. I’m new to pipe smoking (just bought one last night) and am eager to start but don’t want to do anything that will mess up my pipe by not starting it correctly. Any words of wisdom on the subject?
Much appreciated.
C.M.
It’s easy to break in a new pipe. It takes 3 easy steps. Step one, load only a small amount of tobacco ie. just fill the bowl about a quarter of the way and smoke it. Step 2, load the bowl half full and smoke it. Step three, load the bowl full and smoke. This seasons your pipe and you will get a good resin build up to ensure a good cool smoke.
i have just started up pipe smoking, bought a package deal (of ebay) 7 pipes and a humidor. any way they are all estate pipes and i was just wondering if these needed to be broken in as they have all been cleaned very thoughouly priar to purchase and do not have any of the cake left on them? Also i was wondering about the metal filters, are these inserts or built into the pipes? as all of the pipes do not have one. any help would be appreciated, thanks.
tim m.
I have just started pipe smoking and love it! I have an old Meerschaum pipe and an old clay one however i am looking to buy abriar pipe, i found one that i like but it seems cheap will this one work?
http://www.thecigarstore.com/Pipes/Kaywoodie/Kaywoodie-Campus-Straight-Solid.htm
Nice tips, thanks a lot…
Sanda pipes are good cheap pipes for beginners if you don’t like the look of the corn cob ones.
Thanks a lot for this guide.
It has really helped. I never really knew there was such complexity to it, but you’ve made it easy to understand.
Cheers.
Alistair
Hi there,
Nice to go through your article… I should have come across this earlier..
I quit ciggarettes!
also new to the pipe smoking thing.alot of my friends smoke cigars and i just think they smell horrible.i just bought a new pipe. it is a north carolina made pipe called dr.grabon…and i purchased some captain black ( sold in the white pouch).can anybody tell me if i made a good decision on ly semection of a pipe as a starter,and the type of tobacco i picked?
thanks
Try the Peter Stokkebyes “Luxury” offerings such as Navy Flake (plain Virginia), Twist Flake (mildly aromatic cavendish Virginia), and Bullseye Flake (Virginia, Perique, and unflavored black cavendish). All can be “rubbed out” or (carefully) folded and stuffed into the pipe. cupojoes.com, pipesandcigars.com. Very good prices for excellent tobacco! (and much higher quality than Captain Black, for less money,)
I read one article on pipe smoking before this one, and I have to say, this one is a lot more informative. Great job!
I have just broken in my first two pipes. I got a large capacity and a smaller.
I am having trouble smoking the large right down to the bottom, the ash build up
is getting in the way and puting out the tobacco, any tips???
thanks
Tap the ash out of your pipe when it starts to build up. Just turn it up side down and tap it against your ashtray or tap on the bottom of your pipe. You don’t have to tap it hard just gentely.
Tapping or tamping can both help-I just lightly tamp down with a tamper (or my finger if I don’t have a tamper handy) and this will help a lot.
I just wonder if the local tobacco shops are a good choice to find a quality pipe and tobacco? I say tobacco shops, but they always say “discount tobacco” etc… which usually means old and/or outdated…. in my opinion anyway. Also, how long does a “smoke” usually last? I would assume that it wouldn’t be much longer than a cigarette, but then again, you see the “back when i was a young whippersnapper like you” type folks that can sit for hours at a time with a pipe.. but then again, it may just be that they fall asleep and the tobacco quits burning…
Pipe tobacco improves with age when sealed (if it is good to begin with). Try bidding for vintage tins on ebay! Search under Tobacco/tobacciana/tins/full, unopened, sealed. A pipe should last for 20-45 minutes unless you just packed a small bowl.
This forum has encouraged me to quit smoking marijuana and try the pipes on for size.. i have always loved the smell of my great uncle’s pipe while he sat in his chair and puffed away. i can’t wait to find a pipe i love. thanks for the info!!
Yeah, mon, the ganja is good, but it is too expensive for the good S___, and when you are too used to the effect it just makes you tired!
I kinda get it, but you seriously need to proofread. Many of your statements don’t make sense, or are spelled incorrectly. It’s tough to read smoothly.
I have just bought my first pipe, a Peterson brier pipe. I have had two smokes today, one quarter and one half. The second one was a much more enjoyable smoke. Better than any cigarette. With hindsight, wish I had bought one with a smaller bowl. Even a half/quarter is too much at the moment. The pipe cost £50. Should have ordered on line but I am compulsive when it comes to buying. No corn cobs in the shop. However the good thing about pipe smoking is that I can let it go out and smoke it a bit later. I bought it to relax with in the garden. My view on coffee/tea drinking and smoking is that we all endulge too much. That is, with all the above they should be done as part of a relaxation ritual, if you get my meaning. Drinking coffee/smoking while walking down the street defeats the purpose. This site gave me more information than the shop but the chap in the shop did take time to give me as much info, and as much time and info as he could being a none pipe smoker himself.
Hiya;
Above someone mentioned tapping your ashes out of your pipe. You should be careful with your nice briar or meerschaum pipe and invest in a cork tamping pad(I guess you could call it), it looks like a mushroom made of cork. I use old wine corks screwed onto a wood screw. Meerschaums especially can be very fragile and will not tolerate a tap, even lightly. Also I recommend stirring your ashes with a pick, toothpick, twig, whatever you have until you see dark tobacco in your pipe then just dump it out. Tamp down the remaining tobacco lightly then relight. And of course always puff your pipe all the way to the bottom. It is easy with a new or even estate pipe to have ‘cake’(or carbon buildup) begin at the top of the bowl and not the bottom. You can even out your ‘cake’ with a dull pocket knife but be careful not to scratch into the wall of your pipe.
Please keep in mind that I am new at this, but I think I could use some advice here. Whenever I smoke my pipe, The first few puffs are wonderful and tastey… However, the on the next ten or so puffs, only the aftertaste is nice. Then after that it just tastes like ash. Is there some way to fix this?
Hey there;
You may be letting your ash build up. Also it is very easy to puff your pipe too quickly which allows moisture from the tobacco to build up. This can make it burn hot or uneven which allows a dirty burnt taste come through. Make sure you are cleaning your pipe well and that it is dry before you reload it. So try puffing slower and pack it well but not too tight.
If you puff slowly your tobacco will taste good all the way to the bottom.
I remember going through what you are with all my pipes, I would only enjoy the taste for about half the pipe full. If you have moisture build up you don’t have to empty your pipe and start over, just run a fluffy pipe cleaner through the pipe with the stem attached. Let it sit there for a minute then remove it. Try that after you removed your ashes. Then relight, it should be good to go all the way to the bottom now.
Good luck and keep trying…
Thank you very much. I found out that one of my problems was incorrectly packing the bowl, but I’m going to have to remember to go slowly. Oh, and how do I fix the ash build-up? Do I just tump out the ash and relight? Thanks once again for your help.
Hiya;
Well I’m gonna assume you have a tamping multi tool. Just use the ‘poker’ looking part to stir up the ashes until you come to solid tobacco. Then dump out your stirred up ashes. Now use the tamp to make sure your tobacco is level. Try not to push down too much here though because it could make the tobacco burn hotter or uneven. If you don’t have a multi tool any flat instrument(like a dowel maybe) will work. To stir up your ashes a tooth pick or twig will work fine.
Good luck and I’m happy your pipe smoking pleasure is coming more into focus. Every pipe smokes a differently as well so you’ll need to get to know the charecter of each one.
Hey, thanks a bunch Brandon. You’ve really cleared up a few trouble spots for me.