IgwanaRob
I'm just 2 people short of a threesome
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2005
- Messages
- 2,210
Breaking in my first real pipe - a Peterson Ebony Killarney (B11 shape)
After reading up an various techniques, ideas, suggestions, and methods, I settled for using the half bowl method that Peterson recommends (in the leaflet included in the pipe box). Even at half full, it's still more than the corncob held when full, so it wasn't too much of an adjustment/sacrifice. I've read in a few places that a slow smoke is best to build up cake - especially in the bottom of the bowl. Latakia seems to be the popular choice for a slow burn, so I packed it with the HH Vintage Syrian I got yesterday (almost 50% Latakia according to the label).
First thing I noticed was how much more powerful the flavor is over that of the corncob. Second thing was that I did not need to draw nearly as hard as I was used to to get the smoke flowing (darn near choked on the initial lighting drag - I guess there is something to construction, and a clean pipe!)
Noticing a lot of things already. The briar is much more sensitive, as is the overall experience, leading to a much better understanding of how often to puff, how slow to draw to adjust the smoke amount/temperature, and when it needs tamping (as well as how to do it and maintain the burn - something the cob didn't help me with at all, leading me to have to relight quite often).
Every so often, I gently tap the bowl against my hand to shake up the ash, and gently re-tamp. Noticed a little gurgling at one point, so I tried to get a cleaner down - not easy with the bend, but nothing more than something else to get used to so I don't twist the stem accidentally. The cleaner will make it to the bowl, but doesn't actually enter the bowl because of the angle after the bend - I think that may be a good thing, as it did a decent job of soaking up the mess and stopped the gurgling. Haven't needed to relight yet - makes me very happy!
The end is near, so I shake up and tamp one last time - and now I need to relight and get things going for the final stretch. Just about 50 minutes since I started, and my head is swimming in that good way - it's the same good feeling as smoking an Añejo or an Opus X give you
There's nothing but a small tiny black bit at the very bottom, the rest is pure grey ash (the hole is slightly higher than the bottom of the bowl, normal for a bent from what I gather), I dump most of it out, shake the rest up to coat the inside of the bowl, and set the pipe aside to rest.
I've come away from this learning quite a few things; Firefox 2's built-in spell checker needs a lot of new terms added to it's dictionary, Latakia appears to be the pipe world's equivalent to Ligero tobacco in cigars (IOW - strong and absolutely yummy!), and I need more [many more] pipes so I can smoke more often!
After reading up an various techniques, ideas, suggestions, and methods, I settled for using the half bowl method that Peterson recommends (in the leaflet included in the pipe box). Even at half full, it's still more than the corncob held when full, so it wasn't too much of an adjustment/sacrifice. I've read in a few places that a slow smoke is best to build up cake - especially in the bottom of the bowl. Latakia seems to be the popular choice for a slow burn, so I packed it with the HH Vintage Syrian I got yesterday (almost 50% Latakia according to the label).
First thing I noticed was how much more powerful the flavor is over that of the corncob. Second thing was that I did not need to draw nearly as hard as I was used to to get the smoke flowing (darn near choked on the initial lighting drag - I guess there is something to construction, and a clean pipe!)
Noticing a lot of things already. The briar is much more sensitive, as is the overall experience, leading to a much better understanding of how often to puff, how slow to draw to adjust the smoke amount/temperature, and when it needs tamping (as well as how to do it and maintain the burn - something the cob didn't help me with at all, leading me to have to relight quite often).
Every so often, I gently tap the bowl against my hand to shake up the ash, and gently re-tamp. Noticed a little gurgling at one point, so I tried to get a cleaner down - not easy with the bend, but nothing more than something else to get used to so I don't twist the stem accidentally. The cleaner will make it to the bowl, but doesn't actually enter the bowl because of the angle after the bend - I think that may be a good thing, as it did a decent job of soaking up the mess and stopped the gurgling. Haven't needed to relight yet - makes me very happy!
The end is near, so I shake up and tamp one last time - and now I need to relight and get things going for the final stretch. Just about 50 minutes since I started, and my head is swimming in that good way - it's the same good feeling as smoking an Añejo or an Opus X give you
There's nothing but a small tiny black bit at the very bottom, the rest is pure grey ash (the hole is slightly higher than the bottom of the bowl, normal for a bent from what I gather), I dump most of it out, shake the rest up to coat the inside of the bowl, and set the pipe aside to rest. I've come away from this learning quite a few things; Firefox 2's built-in spell checker needs a lot of new terms added to it's dictionary, Latakia appears to be the pipe world's equivalent to Ligero tobacco in cigars (IOW - strong and absolutely yummy!), and I need more [many more] pipes so I can smoke more often!
