New Pipe Smoker Guide
About
This guide is intended to provide the new smoker with everything they need to know about smoking a pipe. It covers how to break in a new pipe, packing the bowl, lighting, smoking and cleaning. This guide is not comprehensive as pipe smoking is a lot like fishing. There is a ton to learn, but even if you get all, you will still just have to "get a feel for it." For additional advice, stop by our shop and our team of experts will be more than happy to share their knowledge.
Breaking in a New Pipe
Personally, I have found the most satisfactory method is to moisten the inside of the bowl with saliva before loading the tobacco for the first smoke. Wetting the interior of the bowl of a new pipe is primarily to prevent excessive burning or charring of the new, dry and unprotected briar; and it facilitates the formation of the carbon cake.
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Next, fill the pipe gently, but firmly, working the tobacco with the forefinger until the bowl is about one-half full. To ensure a good smoke, one must create an even, close porosity between the strands of tobacco in the bowl so the pipe will draw nearly as firmly as a good cigar before lighting. Hasty and loose filling will give a hot smoke, as the air spaces in the loose tobacco act like a draft under a furnace fire. This causes uneven combustion and the tobacco to flame instead of smolder, thus heating up the pipe and burning the smokers tongue. Neither should the tobacco be packed so tightly that one has difficulty drawing air through the pipe. You will need to develop your own “loading” technique—and this will vary according to the cut of the tobacco you are smoking—but try to load your tobacco so that the pipe draws firmly, with a little resistance.
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For the first ten or twelve smokes in a new pipe, it is suggested that the bowl be filled no more than half-full. This allows the pipe cake to form on the bottom of the bowl (usually the most difficult section of the interior to cake but yet the most important part of the bowl if one is to later enjoy the satisfaction of a complete bowl-full of tobaccos). Most important, be certain to smoke your pipe completely to the bottom of the bowl.
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After the first dozen smokes, gradually fill the bowl a little higher each time until it is finally full to the rim, but no higher. Thereafter the bowl should be filled to the top each time the pipe is smoked, and each time the bowl should be smoked completely to the bottom, thus ensuring an even cake of carbon over the entire interior surface of your bowl. This carbon cake acts to “wed” the sweetness of the briar with the tobacco as well as to protect the briar, and to provide you with the utmost enjoyment from your smoking.
Lighting Your Pipe
While drawing through the stem, light the pipe evenly across the entire top surface of the tobacco—do not be afraid of too much flame but put the match down into the bowl so as not to burn its rim. Then take your pipe nail or tamper—not your finger—while you continue to draw and gently press the expanded tobaccos down evenly all around the bowl until the pipe draws firmly, with no air hissing through.​The use of the pipe nail will tend to put out the embers to a degree so, at this point, relight the pipe in order to have the entire top surface of the tobacco burning. You will need to again tamp further down the bowl as the tobaccos will loosen as you smoke. Don’t hesitate to gently press the top of your burning tobacco as you smoke your pipe –this helps to keep the entire top surface of your tobacco lighted and assists in developing the carbon cake evenly around the interior of the bowl. Development of “tamping” will also allow you to smoke your pipe without having it go out on you. However, should your pipe go out, tamp the tobacco with your pipe nail and relight it and continue to smoke it until all of the tobacco in the bowl has been smoked.
Smoking
Always smoke slowly and with long, even draws, as in breathing. In this way the smoke will come into your mouth cool and you will also obtain the full flavor, aroma and goodness from the tobacco and the pipe’s full measure of soothing enjoyment. Do not puff rapidly and continuously, like a steam engine as this will cause a hot fire, will overheat the bowl, and burn your tongue. A pipe should never be too hot to hold in the fingers – if it is, you are smoking too fast. If your pipe does get too hot, let it rest awhile, then tamp the dead ashes and re-light.​Slow smoking is especially important in the case of a new pipe – although this practice is recommended for all smoking in order to provide the greatest smoking pleasure. It is, as I said before, especially important in breaking in a new pipe as slow smoking will prevent scorching the briar before the cake has been formed. Avoid smoking in the wind, as it will create a forced draught on one side of the bowl, resulting in an uneven burn and an uneven cake. It will also burn the bowl. Always shield the pipe with your hand when smoking in a strong wind (and we have them in Oklahoma!!) or obtain from your tobacconist a cover designed specifically to provide this protection. It is advisable to smoke a new pipe indoors for the first week or two, so as to avoid an uneven burn due to drafts.​The use of the pipe nail will tend to put out the embers to a degree so, at this point, relight the pipe in order to have the entire top surface of the tobacco burning. You will need to again tamp further down the bowl as the tobaccos will loosen as you smoke. Don’t hesitate to gently press the top of your burning tobacco as you smoke your pipe –this helps to keep the entire top surface of your tobacco lighted and assists in developing the carbon cake evenly around the interior of the bowl. Development of “tamping” will also allow you to smoke your pipe without having it go out on you. However, should your pipe go out, tamp the tobacco with your pipe nail and relight it and continue to smoke it until all of the tobacco in the bowl has been smoked.
Cleaning Your Pipe
Pipe cleaners are inexpensive and easily obtained – and their proper use will allow you to enjoy your pipe more completely. You should clean your pipe after each smoke. It is a simple matter to remove the bit, run a pipe cleaner through it and then through the shank. Occasionally remove the bit, fold a pipe cleaner in half and leave it in the shank overnight. From time to time set your pipe aside to air thoroughly, as the air will oxidize and neutralize the tobacco tars. It is surprising how nicely a “strong” pipe will sweeten up if placed in a draft near an open window for a few days. ​After smoking your pipe completely to the bottom of the bowl, set it aside and allow it to cool before cleaning it. After it has cooled, take your pipe tool and, using the spoon shaped end, loosen the dead ashes and dump them into an ash tray or other appropriate receptacle. If you must knock your pipe to remove the ashes, do not do so against anything harder than a cork pipe knocker. Never hold your pipe by the tip of the bit when knocking out the ashes—even against a cork pipe knocker—as the leverage on the bit and shank may crack or break one or the other, or both. Always place your forefinger on the bottom of the bowl, or cup the heel of the pipe in one hand, and then tap it gently on the pipe knocker or the palm of your opposite hand.
A Word of Caution
In separating the bit from the shank of your pipe –this should be done only when the pipe is cool. Never remove the bit while the pipe is hot. The briar is more brittle at that time, and the expansion of the bit and shank due to heat causes them to fit more tightly. Separating these when the pipe is still warm from smoking may result in a cracked shank, a broken bit or a loosened tenon.