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Packing Tobacco in a Pipe

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Tnturkey

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How firm do you pack your tobacco? I packed a 1/4 bowl of some cheap stuff and it would go out. I had to keep lighting it after each puff, it that normal? Did I pack it to tight or not tight enough. The smell, smelled like an old Tampa Cigar, my Grandpa use to smoke.
 

Seanz

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Re: Packing Tobacco

Its nothing to get worried about When I pack my pipe I fill it loosely then press it down lightly fill again pressing a bit harder then once more pressing more firmly still.
You might want to check it by having a puff. it should be like a straw in a drink. it takes practice I don't know if I have explained it well as nowadays I don't even think about it just stuff it in and go But yeah until you can get a good cadence going in your puffing it will go out. If I am smoking flakes I just fold a flake and stuff it in. There's heaps on you tube about filling your pipe.
 

bosun

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Try a half a bowl full. Packing is one of those OJT things..it needs to be tight enough for the ember to stay in contact with the tobacco as it burns but not tight enough to go out constantly or that you have to continually puff. As Seanz mentioned, put a little in the bowl and tamp very lightly, then a little more and tamp slightly harder, then finish off with the last bit of tobacco and a firmer tamp. Draw on the pipe to get an idea of how you packed it 'this time' and fire it up. As the tobacco burns you have to lightly tamp the ember down so it stays in contact with the tobacco. If it works for you then good. If it doesn't try a looser or tighter pack next time. You'll get it, just won't happen immediately. All of a sudden you'll realize you've been smoking a pipe for a couple of weeks with no trouble!
 

SmokesAhoy

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also tamp gently to get that coal cake going, once that's established you should be set
 

BigCasino

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they say pack the bowl in bunches of three, and equate the pack to a hand shake, gravity fill the bowl to the top and then lightly pack it down with your finger think of shaking a baby's hand, and then gravity fill it again and tamp it down with your finger a little firmer like you would shake a woman's hand, and then fill to the top again this time packing a bit firmer like you would shake the hand of a man.

now it does take some practice and the more you do it the more second nature it seems to become, don't worry about relights as this is common and expected with a pipe, usually the first two or three lights wont stay lit anyways, the first light is the "charring " light to basically start toasting the top of the tobacco preparing it to burn, and during the first couple of lights you may need to tampen down the top of your tobacco as the heat makes it expand, and since the ideal way to smoke a pipe is to have the tobacco burn as cool as possible the pipe often snuffs out, if you push a tobacco to stay lit 3 things will happen, the fist is possibly burning your mouth or tongue, the second is you will build up excessive moisture in your pipe causing it to gurgle, if it gurgles run a pipe cleaner down the shank and dry it out and then set the pipe down to cool off completely, and the third is burning up all those delicate flavors of the tobacco you only taste if the tobacco is burning nice and cool, at any time you feel your pipe getting too hot set her down and let it cool off, then one thing I noticed when I started smokin a pipe was that I seemed to get the most flavor from the tobacco on the relights, so after a while they don't bother you as much...lol
 

Jack in NB

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Is it possible your stock is a bit too damp?

When I used to smoke Borkum Riff (or any other commercial product, for that matter) I found I had to dry it some so it stayed lit at my comfortable smoking pace.

And in this process, I found that the commercial products contained at least 20% WATER by weight. I lost at least 20% of the package weight in the drying operation.

Damned expensive water. Profitable, too - for big tobacco, and for our gummints!
 

Tnturkey

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That is a very good question. I never thought about that. I just opened it and packed it less than 30 sec after opening. Now today with the snow/rain it was hard to light and I do believe it could be moisture.
 
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