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Ash taste, advice needed and welcome

Hello, everyone. I am not as active here as used to be in the past, for which I apologise. Life gets in the way (job, new family, three different postings abroad). On the other hand, I have taken to perusing B&B again in the past year and the Brown Leaf never ceases to inspire me. Congratulations to all, your pictures in the POTD thread are great.

I have a very simple question, or rather, an issue I would like to comment on here.

I have been smoking pipes for 14 years or so now. I started on the, I think, well-trodden path: aromatics first, English blends second and more neutral tobaccos now, mostly VaPers and burleys. I still smoke English tobaccos every now and then, and I still keep a few tins of aromatics that see the light of day when nostalgia kicks in.

However, I cannot say that I get the same kind of enjoyment that I got in my first pipe-puffing years. True, there was the occasional nicotine high, but those were rare. Back then everything seemed new and exciting. Aromatics were sweet, English blends were full-bodied and Virginias were remarkable. I sill remember the first smokes of Reiner's Virginia or Rattray's Old Gowrie: butterscotch-like clouds of smoke, and yeasty, not-overly-sweet bread flavour. I even remember finishing a bowl of Old Gowrie and immediately filling and lighting another pipe. I was so happy.

I never became a full time smoker. Sometimes I would smoke daily; sometimes weeks or months would pass before I touched my pipes. It never was about needing the smoke, it always was about enjoying the experience. If I knew I would not have the time or if the right circumstances were absent, I graciously decided to forego the smoke.

Now...

I have observed that I do not enjoy smoking my pipes as much. I get the nice flavour of the tobacco for about the first third of the bowl, but it then evolves into a dull taste, and finally it settles down to the taste of ash. I am also much more prone to dizzyness and even mild nausea.

To put it systematically:

1. When I smoke flakes, I tend to rub them out.
2. I do not usually dry the tobacco unless it feels moist.
3. I smoke medium or large pipes.
4. I do not puff fast or aggressively. My smokes last well over an hour.
5. I used to just taste the tobacco in my mouth, now l use the 'breathe method' because it feels instinctive and keeps the pipe lit for longer; it also leads me to retroinhale more.
6. I do not think I am profficient at packing my pipe, I usually have to relight many times after I reach mid-bowl.
7. I do not usually empty my pipe of ash until I am finished, I tamp lightly as I go.
8. I smoke pipes with and without filters.
9. I seem to always end with a wet dottle at the bottom of the bowl, very rarely in these last few years have I finished a smoke with just dry ash.
10. I clean my pipes with several pipe cleaners once they are cool.
11. I have never deep-cleaned my pipes (with the salt and alcohol method or any other)

There you go. It felt like a confession. Any comment or insight will be most welcome. I want to recapture the old feeling, your pictures do make me want to pick a pipe and light it, but it seldom ends up being a completely pleasurable experience.

Many (many!) thanks in advance!
 
Well, first of all, welcome back! Seems you've got a pretty good list of things to try - I'd recommend not changing things Wholesale, just tinkering a little, on thing at a time, until something clicks back into shape.

First off, though, don't waste your time worrying about relights. I find I get the most enjoyment out of my pipes (especially VA blends) when I draw on them just enough to keep them from going out. Relights happen. Stressing about it decreases your opportunity for enjoyment. Same with dottle - it happens. As your cadence gets back into rhythm, you'll likely find it happens less often, but still nothing to be concerned with.

I would start with your cadence. The breathe method is great once you get it down, but it does lead to smoking a bit fast, which could lead to that ashy taste. Start by holding your lit pipe, take an elongated, smooth draw, and consciously pull the pipe out of your mouth. Work that around, contemplate, exhale. Be deliberate. Once you get back to where you feel like you're enjoying your smoke again, you can work back into the breathe method.

A couple other things to note: you might want to do a good, deep cleaning, just to make sure you have a solid starting point. You don't have to go full salt/alcohol, just run everclear (or high proof vodka) on some scrubby pipe cleaners through the stem and draft hole, then very carefully inside your bowl. Follow up with fluffy pipe cleaners to dry the alcohol, and set aside for a day. This will eliminate your pipes being the cause.

Also, you mentioned smoking larger bowls, but not tapping ash. This is a personal choice, but I sometimes get that ashy taste when smoking VA blends in taller, narrow bowls, and carefully tapping out some ash helps. I stir up the top a bit, not disturbing the pack, gently tap out, the blow into the bowl a bit to get the loose ash out. Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm sure some of the other regulars will have some good ideas for you. The most important thing is, keep at it! Welcome back!
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
What you describe is not unusual, and happens to many pipe smokers. So don't get too down about it or think you are a hard case. We all go though these phases. Just a couple of thoughts.

Your smoking technique is fairly normal. I and most old hands share many of the same habits you do: I do not follow a 14-step packing process with pressure gauges. I tamp and relight during many smokes, and don't surgically empty the ash after every 4 minutes of burn time. I've also been known to go 2+ hours out on a Mixture Scottish in a Vauen apple ... but also get the 30 minute clunker every so often, too. I don't weigh and analyze my dottle for deep smoking secrets, I just toss it. But we've all been where you are at some point.

Try your next couple of smokes with a beverage. Sometimes, a tired, stressed or bored palate can benefit from the refreshment during the smoke. Like the pipe, just take a sip every so often to clear your mouth. The next puff should have a renewed newness or complimentary taste to it, depending on your beverage choice. For example, a cup of coffee is the classic companion to many mainstream OTC burley blends, and goes famously with the nuttiness of many of them. For me in the evening, it is a can of cola. Others like to pair it with booze. You pick what makes you happy.

It is not uncommon to have a soggy dottle at the end. There are many causes for this, and it is not necessarily a tragedy when it happens. And it is not necessarily because of you. The goal is not to win a zero dottle contest; the goal is relaxation and enjoying the smoke. I treat dottle as a form of filter. If it's a wet plug, then that kept it from your stem, and ruining your smoke. If you've ever seen a pipe filter that really did its job, they are practically dripping upon removal. If you enjoyed the smoke up to that point, don't let some dottle ruin what was a good smoke until then. Just dump it out, and let the pipe dry before coming back to it later.

As you probably know, some pipes are just wet smokers, and some blends smoke wetter than others. Moist blends are going to steam up and burn hotter, which is why aromatics are notorious for filling up the bilge. If it is bothering you THAT much, try leaving out a loaded bowl overnight, to get it much drier than normal before you start. Or steer to known dry burners that rarely get wet, such as PA or another basic burley.

The taste of ash is sometimes native to some blends, and it is sometimes a case of overheating a blend, and some blends are more sensitive to overheating than others. Ashiness is a commonplace complaint about Carter Hall, for example. Again, the goal is not to smoke 100% of every bowl. If you really enjoyed 75% of the bowl for 40 minutes, you had a great smoke in my book.

I don't know if going berserk on your existing pipe rotation is something to consider at this point. It is always possible that you have a lineup of wet smoking, haunted pipes that need an extreme sweetening or cleaning treatment. But from how you have described yourself, I would guess the chance of that as being nearly zero.

But if you must, take a couple offenders, let them dry out thoroughly, and then hard pack them tight with the preferred or intended blend, and just let then sit for a few days like that, before emptying them out and refilling with the same for smoking. That is a more gentle, old-time bowl sweetening technique in my book, and is not as stressful to the pipe.

It is more likely that perhaps there is something going on in your environment or with your technique that you are unaware of. And given time, it will pass. Just try and enjoy the smokes you are having. And if you're not enjoying it, put it down, and come back again later.

If all else is not working, sometimes just dancing with a brand new pipe for a smoke or two can settle down the psyche, and purge whatever hidden habit change is causing the stress. That doesn't mean you need to go out and buy a $800 Castello. A fresh $7 cob has been known to be a nice changeup when the briars and meers are just not doing their best. Stuff it with something simple, a bowl of SWR for instance.

Good luck, happy puffs, and welcome back.
 
Yes, I've been getting rid of some ash when my pipe goes out at or about the 20-minute mark. I use the spade end of my pipe tamping tool, loosen the smoked ash, and dump it lightly out onto a saucer. Then I relight, and sometimes tamp the remaining leaf a little.

Until recently I've used the 3-level pipe filling process. A couple of weeks ago I went back to the technique Mr. Jansen of the long-gone Ye Olde Pipe Shoppe showed me in 1987: Take a big pinch of the tobacco and wedge it lightly into the bowl. Push it down just a little. Fill to the top the same way and push a bit more. Then light, tamp, and relight. Much less fuss, and some of my smokes go beyond that initial 20-minute point before needing another match. Also I've been loading tomorrow's pipe the night before, and leaving the leaf to dry in the bowl instead of on a saucer. The tobacco is no harder to keep lit than when I did the saucer-drying routine.

Each time, too, I run a vodka-soaked pipe cleaner through the stem once the pipe has cooled, and double it up to swab out the bowl. My pipes do not have a neglected aroma for sure.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
All good points by the other gents.

I'll just add this about ash, ashiness, and leftover unsmoked content, to keep things in perspective.

When's the last time you heard a cigarette smoker lament that they aren't smoking the entire cigarette anymore? And the answer to that is never. Unless they are smoking with a pair of tweezers (or 'roach clips' they called them in the 70s) , it just never happens. The vast majority of cigarette smokers leave plenty behind, on every smoke. Besides the burned fingers, they taste pretty bad by the very end most of the time, except for the most hard-core smokers (who would likely smoke the pack if there were scraps in it). There's a reason ash trays are filled with lots of butts.

The same is true of cigar smokers. Show me a cigar smoker who puffs it down to the cap, and I'll show you burned fingers or a kooky cigar smoker. Heck, these guys are the same ones who smoke them with the bands on. And if you've seen some of these bands, they take up half the stick anymore. I always remove the band, but if I can't hold it comfortably with thumb + 2 fingers, the smoke is done.

And we pipe smokers, if we remain sane, are similar. It is uncommon to routinely, competely smoke the entire bowl down to ash. And most of the time you do that, the last few puffs are like licking an ashtray. Ninety five percent of the time, I'm not looking to smoke the whole thing, I don't smoke it to the heel, and tap out some unsmoked dottle at the end.

There will almost always be some tobacco lost in a smoke. It's the nature of the beast. Don't let it spoil the good 75-90% of the event by overthinking or fretting about it.

Striving to burn and consume every last scrap of a load and overworking the lighter is what sometimes causes that ashy taste, too. That's just how ashes taste, ashy. Pro Tip: I don't generally relight if in the final third for that reason. If it reaches the heel, fine. But if not, or it's out because I was distracted or busy, I don't worry. Smoke's over. Otherwise, I'll light tamp the top ash just enough to get a flame through it for a relight.

Not meaning to lecture, just keeping perspective.
 
All good points by the other gents.

I'll just add this about ash, ashiness, and leftover unsmoked content, to keep things in perspective.

When's the last time you heard a cigarette smoker lament that they aren't smoking the entire cigarette anymore? And the answer to that is never. Unless they are smoking with a pair of tweezers (or 'roach clips' they called them in the 70s) , it just never happens. The vast majority of cigarette smokers leave plenty behind, on every smoke. Besides the burned fingers, they taste pretty bad by the very end most of the time, except for the most hard-core smokers (who would likely smoke the pack if there were scraps in it). There's a reason ash trays are filled with lots of butts.

The same is true of cigar smokers. Show me a cigar smoker who puffs it down to the cap, and I'll show you burned fingers or a kooky cigar smoker. Heck, these guys are the same ones who smoke them with the bands on. And if you've seen some of these bands, they take up half the stick anymore. I always remove the band, but if I can't hold it comfortably with thumb + 2 fingers, the smoke is done.

And we pipe smokers, if we remain sane, are similar. It is uncommon to routinely, competely smoke the entire bowl down to ash. And most of the time you do that, the last few puffs are like licking an ashtray. Ninety five percent of the time, I'm not looking to smoke the whole thing, I don't smoke it to the heel, and tap out some unsmoked dottle at the end.

There will almost always be some tobacco lost in a smoke. It's the nature of the beast. Don't let it spoil the good 75-90% of the event by overthinking or fretting about it.

Striving to burn and consume every last scrap of a load and overworking the lighter is what sometimes causes that ashy taste, too. That's just how ashes taste, ashy. Pro Tip: I don't generally relight if in the final third for that reason. If it reaches the heel, fine. But if not, or it's out because I was distracted or busy, I don't worry. Smoke's over. Otherwise, I'll light tamp the top ash just enough to get a flame through it for a relight.

Not meaning to lecture, just keeping perspective.
Solid points all. Enjoy your smoke while it's enjoyable, don't worry about the rest. :thumbup1:
 
I would also point out that some tobaccos aren’t as good as they used to be, eg. red VAs. Many blends now have dark fired Kentucky, which I don’t care for. Some blenders are even using it to replace perique, I understand.

Maybe it’s not you. Please tell us your top 5 blends.
 
Dear all, thank you so much for your replies and valuable advice, and also for the kind disposition with which it was given. I will implement what has been said here and keep things in perspective, perhaps I was trying to recapture a (¿real? ¿imaginary?) sense of a perfect smoke. Time to be realistic. I will also relax my puffing pace and improve my pipe-cleaning routines.

FYI, I am currently alternating between FVF, Nightcap and Solani ABF. Previous tobaccos were Marlin Flake and Capstan Blue, MM 965 and Three Nuns. I still have some flakes of Peterson's UF as well. I like to have rotation of Virginia, English and Burley blends at hand.
 
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