Blaylock
02-27-2015, 02:29 PM
Pipe Smoking Taboos
There are a number of things that can ruin the first experiences of pipe smoking for beginners, causing them to be frustrated and perhaps even walk away before experiencing the real joy of the smoke.
Paraphrased from a larger article, some may find these tips helpful:
Heavy Hands (Part 1)
“The Devil’s Sledgehammer”
‘The sin that can ruin a pipe smoking experience faster than any other is heavy handedness. Even the experienced smoker can fall victim to zealous tamping, which can ruin a bowl soon after the first ember is ignited.
Pipe carver and smoker Achim Frank, father of the “Frank Method” of pipe loading, eschews tamping during most of the smoke. In fact, what he recommends is a procedure more akin to “grading” the top of the smoke, ever so gently leveling it off. Frank tamps only immediately after the charring light—then puts the tamper away.
"Don’t push the tamper, twist it. The tamper makes the ash flat. Flat ash is the best thing to light.", {source unknown)
When using Frank’s pipe-loading method, which allows a large pocket of air to remain in the bottom of the chamber, over-tamping can cause the load to collapse, requiring a complete reload. But smokers who use any number of pipe-loading methods favor this twist-tamping technique. The rationale is straightforward: A pipe should be properly loaded from the get-go with optimum airflow through the tobacco—before it is lit. Every time a smoker tamps, he threatens to alter the precise balance of air in the chamber that he worked so hard to achieve.'
Heavy Hands (Part 2)
“Pick and Shovel”
‘Heavy-handedness can also spell trouble for more than just your tobacco. Those small divots that sometimes appear along the chamber wall inside a bowl directly opposite the draft hole are more likely to have been excavated by the pointy metal tip of a pipe cleaner, rather than a slip by the pipe maker. A “heavy hand” jamming a pipe cleaner through the stem, the shank, and into the bowl, attempting to clear obstructions, and overshooting the mark, will burrow into the chamber wall time and time again.
In the “heavy hands” of a novice, a reaming tool can quickly demolish a pipe and annihilate its value. Reamers routinely raze the rims of pipes in record time or chisel a chamber until it is out-of-round. Pipemaker J.T. Cooke says it is far better to send the reaming tool itself to the scrap heap before winding up sending a fine smoking implement to the bone yard. Be careful and take the time to learn the proper techniques.
The most typical taboo involving “heavy hands” and beginning smokers is loading a pipe too tightly, an error to which veterans alike are prone on occasion.’
(to be continued)
There are a number of things that can ruin the first experiences of pipe smoking for beginners, causing them to be frustrated and perhaps even walk away before experiencing the real joy of the smoke.
Paraphrased from a larger article, some may find these tips helpful:
Heavy Hands (Part 1)
“The Devil’s Sledgehammer”
‘The sin that can ruin a pipe smoking experience faster than any other is heavy handedness. Even the experienced smoker can fall victim to zealous tamping, which can ruin a bowl soon after the first ember is ignited.
Pipe carver and smoker Achim Frank, father of the “Frank Method” of pipe loading, eschews tamping during most of the smoke. In fact, what he recommends is a procedure more akin to “grading” the top of the smoke, ever so gently leveling it off. Frank tamps only immediately after the charring light—then puts the tamper away.
"Don’t push the tamper, twist it. The tamper makes the ash flat. Flat ash is the best thing to light.", {source unknown)
When using Frank’s pipe-loading method, which allows a large pocket of air to remain in the bottom of the chamber, over-tamping can cause the load to collapse, requiring a complete reload. But smokers who use any number of pipe-loading methods favor this twist-tamping technique. The rationale is straightforward: A pipe should be properly loaded from the get-go with optimum airflow through the tobacco—before it is lit. Every time a smoker tamps, he threatens to alter the precise balance of air in the chamber that he worked so hard to achieve.'
Heavy Hands (Part 2)
“Pick and Shovel”
‘Heavy-handedness can also spell trouble for more than just your tobacco. Those small divots that sometimes appear along the chamber wall inside a bowl directly opposite the draft hole are more likely to have been excavated by the pointy metal tip of a pipe cleaner, rather than a slip by the pipe maker. A “heavy hand” jamming a pipe cleaner through the stem, the shank, and into the bowl, attempting to clear obstructions, and overshooting the mark, will burrow into the chamber wall time and time again.
In the “heavy hands” of a novice, a reaming tool can quickly demolish a pipe and annihilate its value. Reamers routinely raze the rims of pipes in record time or chisel a chamber until it is out-of-round. Pipemaker J.T. Cooke says it is far better to send the reaming tool itself to the scrap heap before winding up sending a fine smoking implement to the bone yard. Be careful and take the time to learn the proper techniques.
The most typical taboo involving “heavy hands” and beginning smokers is loading a pipe too tightly, an error to which veterans alike are prone on occasion.’
(to be continued)