Getting Started: Pipe Smoking 101 (part 1)

Welcome to The Southfarthing, your place for all things related to the hobby of smoking tobacco in pipes. My name is Jason Knott. I'm a 30-year-old Theology student who has enjoyed smoking a pipe for over six years. I'm beginning this site as a way to kill some time in the evenings when I don't want to study any more. But we'll see where it goes.

To start us off, I'm beginning a series called Pipe Smoking 101. In this series of posts, I will try to impart to you what little knowledge I have acquired over the years through trial and error and various conversations with other aficionados of the pipe-weed as to the "basics" of the art. Other posts will include reviews of particular pipe tobaccos and any other information may seem appropriate.

One may assume that the place to begin is the issue of acquiring a pipe and the various smoking accouterments. It is true, of course, that that is where you must begin chronologically. However, I think the first, hardest, and most important lesson to learn when taking up the pipe is how to achieve and maintain the proper smoking humidity for the particular tobacco.

It never ceases to amaze me how often supposedly experienced pipe-smokers will complain about tongue-bite or else fault a tobacco for being too moist when they buy it. In my experience, something like 85% of all pipe tobaccos are too wet for optimal smoking when I acquire them, especially if they are in sealed tins. If I were not willing to take care of the humidity myself, I would be severely limited in my choices of tobaccos, and would have to miss out on some fantastic smoking experiences.

Nothing, in my experience, affects how enjoyable a smoke will be more than the humidity of the tobacco. If it is too wet, it will burn hot, require frequent re-lights, and produce excess moisture in the pipe, causing "gurgling" and requiring one to clean out the shank more often. The flavor will not be as good, either as a result of these factors or others. If the tobacco is too dry, it will burn too hot as well, and too fast, and the flavor will tend to be flat, sharp, or harsh. Neither the (marginal) quality of the tobacco nor the quality of the pipe, nor your own packing, lighting, and smoking abilities, will affect how much you can enjoy the smoke as much as this one factor.

Unfortunately, though there are rules of thumb, there is no perfect formula for all pipe tobaccos. In addition, different smokers will get maximum enjoyment out of their tobaccos when they are different with regard to humidity. Usually, when dealing with shag- or ribbon-cut tobaccos (i.e., not flakes, ropes, or plugs) the rule of thumb is that the tobacco should be such that when you grab it in your fingers it will press together without making a crunching sound, but will still fall apart again when you let it go, rather than staying bunched together in a ball. But I've found that some loose tobaccos smoke better when on the dry side of this, others on the wet side.

Furthermore, it seems that processes begin when you open, or "pop" a new tin of tobacco, that cannot be reduced to the loss of humidity, but that nevertheless affect the smoking properties in much the same way. I call the period after popping a tin but before smoking the tobacco the "mellowing" period, as opposed to the "aging" period between the time the tobacco was tinned and when you open it (some tins have date-stamps on the bottom, others you have to guess). Sometimes, often in fact, a tobacco will improve dramatically in its smoking properties after a significant mellowing period (a matter of weeks to months) such that even though the humidity may still seem high, it will smoke very nicely. Additionally, sometimes only a mellowing period will do, because quickly drying out a portion of, or all of, the tin right away will not improve the smoking qualities as well as the mellowing period will.

Because of all this, you have to learn on a case-by-case basis how best to enjoy each and every particular tobacco. That is a very daunting task, of course, which is why so many never accept it. But if you just accept it and learn to love the process, you will be rewarded. Thankfully, as you become familiar with certain brands and varieties, cuts, component elements, etc., certain patterns will emerge making your guesses more educated.

The easiest, and the most frequently necessary thing you will have to do is dry a tobacco out. Again, almost all of them are too wet in the tin. The best solution to this problem is the very simple process of exposing the tobacco to drier air (anything below 75% humidity or so, which includes the air in most places except perhaps the Tropics). That is, open the tin and let it sit for a matter of hours. Until you have become accustomed to the particular tobacco in question, however, it may be precarious to dry out the entire tin all at once. Excessive drying may ruin the tobacco in ways that will be difficult or impossible to remedy. And again, perhaps simply mellowing in a popped tin will bring at least a portion of the tobacco to a place where it will smoke fine without additional airing out. Therefore, it will be prudent to begin by drying out a small portion of the tin, say a few flakes or pipes-full, up to a quarter of the whole.

Begin slowly, with not more than an hour of drying time, and try to smoke some, putting the rest of the dried tobacco in an air-tight container separate from the original tin with its remainder of moist tobacco. If it smokes good, and does not seem flat in flavor, or to smoke too fast or too slow or too hot, all is well. But if there is something wrong, you must learn to evaluate whether the tobacco is too dry, still too wet, or just needs some mellowing time.

Always keep your tobacco in air-tight containers in cool temperatures. Excessive heat or cold can adversely affect the tobaccos smoking qualities.

Of course, sometimes tobacco will get too dry. To correct for this problem, there are several solutions. I prefer to use small silver discs you can buy at most tobacco stores, which when soaked in water and put in an airtight container with your tobacco will re-humidify it. Some like to put the dry tobacco in a bowl and place a wet towel over the bowl. In any case, trial an error is the key.

One is never through learning how to work tobacco to get it to the best smoking humidity. Six years has been far too short a time for me to learn it all. But if you wish to smoke a pipe and get the most out of the experience, you have to keep experimenting and learning.