Last night I finally had the smoke that I have been looking for from a pipe. I have only been at this for a short while and the results have been mixed, so it was encouraging to get it right.
I started with my Peterson system; packing it as I have learned from the Frank method videos and lit it with a wooden match. That bowl smoked OK, but toward the end it became increasingly difficult to draw. I thought maybe I should have cleaned it better, so I set it aside and picked up my other Peterson, a Yeats.
Same thing, packed it while I rewatched the Frank video and lit it up. Same disappointing results, but this time the bowl really clogged out about 50% of the way through. The Yeats pipe was squeaky clean, so I was getting a bit frustrated.
The system had cooled completely and I took it apart for a cleaning. There was a lot of dottle in the bowl, but the condensation chamber and pipe stem were pretty clean. Still, a good swabbing with Q-tips and pipe cleaners was performed.
For this try I ignored the careful packing and did a pouch scoop and light thumb press with the tobacco. The tobacco rose to meet the match, so I tamped it down and then re-lit. Wow, this time the smoke was plentiful and cool.
It was so much better than before and I was able to smoke the entire bowl down to a fine white ash. The pipe lasted about 45 minutes and it was a pleasure the entire way through. I must have been over-packing the pipe previously which resulted in the tough draw. I did notice that the last bowl didnt require the steam engine puffing to remain lit, so there was no tongue bite from smoking it hot.
Funny how this was never a problem with the MM cob, but the bowl is so small on that pipe it was pretty much impossible to over-pack the bowl. I will continue along and once I have the loading process down pat I will start buying up some of those tins that I keep reading about
I started with my Peterson system; packing it as I have learned from the Frank method videos and lit it with a wooden match. That bowl smoked OK, but toward the end it became increasingly difficult to draw. I thought maybe I should have cleaned it better, so I set it aside and picked up my other Peterson, a Yeats.
Same thing, packed it while I rewatched the Frank video and lit it up. Same disappointing results, but this time the bowl really clogged out about 50% of the way through. The Yeats pipe was squeaky clean, so I was getting a bit frustrated.
The system had cooled completely and I took it apart for a cleaning. There was a lot of dottle in the bowl, but the condensation chamber and pipe stem were pretty clean. Still, a good swabbing with Q-tips and pipe cleaners was performed.
For this try I ignored the careful packing and did a pouch scoop and light thumb press with the tobacco. The tobacco rose to meet the match, so I tamped it down and then re-lit. Wow, this time the smoke was plentiful and cool.
It was so much better than before and I was able to smoke the entire bowl down to a fine white ash. The pipe lasted about 45 minutes and it was a pleasure the entire way through. I must have been over-packing the pipe previously which resulted in the tough draw. I did notice that the last bowl didnt require the steam engine puffing to remain lit, so there was no tongue bite from smoking it hot.
Funny how this was never a problem with the MM cob, but the bowl is so small on that pipe it was pretty much impossible to over-pack the bowl. I will continue along and once I have the loading process down pat I will start buying up some of those tins that I keep reading about
