How to pack and light a pipe?

How to pack and light a pipe?

Packing a pipe is one of the biggest challenges for new pipe smoker. It looks so easy when you see someone smoke on TV.  Anyway, this process can be frustrating if you don’t follow proper technique. Packing pipe tobacco too tightly or too loosely can result in a flawed pipe smoking experience. However, the preparation will come naturally once you have some practice. Follow the steps below and you will become a pro soon.

You needed:

Firstly, you’ll need some pipe accessories such as pipe cleaners, a lighter or matches, and tamper.

A fresh and clean pipe makes for a happy smoke. That said, start by cleaning the pipe of any leftover residue, or “dottle.” Run a pipe cleaner through the stem dump out any dottle and blowing leftover ash through the mouthpiece. You should do this over ashtray or trashcan.

Packing the Bowl

Take a small amount of tobacco and spread it across a flat surface that is hygienic. Next, carefully pick apart any clumps and gauge the dampness. If your tobacco is too moist, let it sit out for three to five minutes so some of the unwanted wetness can dissipate.

Now, let’s get that tobacco in the pipe. Hold the device carefully while tactfully dropping your tobacco in the bowl. Remember to fill the pipe all the way to the top before tamping the tobacco down. If you do it halfway through, clumps will form. You’ll know the bowl is full when the tobacco is half to two-thirds of the way to the top and feels springy to the touch.

TIPS:

– Pipe tobacco at the bottom of the bowl must be loose enough to permit free airflow.

– Pipe tobacco on top of the bowl must be packed firmly enough to hold a light.

Put the pipe to your lips and take a test draw and take a test draw. If you’ve filled your pipe properly, the inhalation should feel like sucking soda through a straw. If it feels like an empty straw, you’ve packed the pipe too loosely; If there is any resistance, it’s packed too compactly. You should dump out the tobacco and start over.

Once you have the bowl filled to perfection, add just a bit more tobacco on top. Tamp down again until the tobacco is level with the rim.

Lighting Procedure

Now that your pipe is properly packed, it’s time to light up. It may look simple, but it takes proper technique to get it just right, so follow along.

Start with the “false light.” The purpose of doing this is to expel any extra moisture from pipe tobacco and prepare a nice even bed for the “true light.” Utilizing either a lighter or lit match, move the flame in a circular motion around the surface of the pipe tobacco while taking shallow puffs on the pipe. You only need a soft blaze, so please use pipe lighter or matches (don’t use a torch lighter).

Allow the light to go out, and tamp pipe tobacco in the bowl again until the tobacco is completely flush (Don’t tamp too tightly). Relight by using the same technique. Take a few final puffs of the pipe, then enjoy the wonderful experience of smoking pipe. When you feel the draw loosen, tamp the pipe tobacco again to keep the pipe lit.

Summary

In the end, practice makes perfect.

It takes time to master the technique. It may take a few months to light your pipe like a pro, but each time you’ll see steady improvement and it is common for it to take 6 months for this technique. Don’t worry about relight because it is a fact of life. You will probably find that as your smoking progresses, you will relight it less and less frequently.