Dottle fodder?

[nortac]

I was wondering if anyone had ever used a small amount of inexpensive non-aromatic tobacco to load first into their pipe bowl, then add their premium tobacco on top, so that "the devils portion" or dottle would mostly be the less refined tobacco that inevitably is discarded. It always bothers me when I end up tossing out any really good tobacco as dottle, particularly if it is in short supply.

 

[Commander Quan]

How's the drilling on your pipe? If the draft hole comes out at the bottom of the heal there should hardly be any tobacco left. There's almost always some but not enough to worry about.

 

[nortac]

I have several pipes, so it is not an issue with any particular pipe. Regardless of which blend I'm smoking, I usually find that the taste goes downhill as I near the end of the bowl-full of baccy. I end up tossing the last quarter bowl or so. I have yet to find a blend that burns down to nothing but ash and tastes good to the end. I suppose they all would burn down to nothing but ash if I continued to smoke them after their flavor was less than satisfying. It may still be my latent noob technique, I still sometimes smoke too fast. I'm sure that can have an adverse effect on the tastes of the tobacco. I may have to try putting a pinch of Carter Hall or Prince Albert in the bowl before loading up with with one of my premium blends.

 

[the_edski]

There is nothing really wrong with having dottle left in your pipe. Yah, smoking too fast may add to it, but like you said it is just technique and it should improve with time. If you are really concerned, you can try drying out your tobacco a little more to see if that reduces the amount of wet dottle, or see if you can smoke a half packed bowl all the way to ash and then ramp back up to a full one.

 

[COHunter]

I usually have a bit left as well and it doesn't really bother me one way or another. For the most part if you look at the per oz price of the vast majority of tobacco it's all pretty close. Obviously there are the really expensive and really cheap ones but ~90% of the time they seem to be within a couple percent of each other in price.

 

[michiganlover]

There's always the option of being like Sherlock Holmes: save all of the day's dottle, dry it out overnight, and smoke it as your first pipe in the morning!!

It's far from optimal though, as smoking a pipe is supposed to be about enjoyment, which I don't equate to smoking less than desirable tobacco.

 

[Argonaut]

I've never done it myself, but if it's working for you and saving some premium 'baccy, then have at it!

 

[michiganlover]

I haven't done this either. Seems to me that it would take a little something away from the "premium" just going through it.

+1

That was my thought as well. Since all of the smoke is being "filtered" through the tobacco in the bottom of the bowl I would have to believe that tobacco would impart some flavor to the overall mix. Perhaps not enough to matter or be noticeable; but this would logically have to be the case.

 

[Shave_Rat]

I've sort of done this a time or three. I was at the bottom of a "nicer" or "premium" blend, not enough for more than 1/3 a bowl, so I filled the bottom with like Carter Hall for the first bit, then topped it with the rest of whatever it was I was using up. It worked out fine, I didn't notice the smoke being different or such until the ember got near the transition part of the packing.

 

[COHunter]

I've sort of done this a time or three. I was at the bottom of a "nicer" or "premium" blend, not enough for more than 1/3 a bowl, so I filled the bottom with like Carter Hall for the first bit, then topped it with the rest of whatever it was I was using up. It worked out fine, I didn't notice the smoke being different or such until the ember got near the transition part of the packing.

Sounds like the "parfait" bowl that I know a few folks enjoy. You layer 2 or more types of tobacco and you get to enjoy each one as you smoke the bowl down.

 

[Shave_Rat]