Bowl and a Half Discovery

[Blackhorse]

Spent much of the day "Forging" a new giant pipe nail. Amid the torches and anvil and forging hammer playtime I smoked a 'secret' test blend that is an apprent attempt at Stonehaven...in a group 4, full bent CAO Meer, carved with Mr.Holmes on one side and Mr. Watson on the other. The testweed was stellar, and I've nearly finished the nail.

Discovery - at least to me...A BIZZARE NEW TECHNIQUE: Yesterday I smoked the first bowl of the mystery blend with pretty good results. It got into the zone at the halfway point and went gold from there.

Then today...As I had very little of the mystery blend left after filling the bowl for the second trial, I smoked it down halfway (to the gold zone) then tipped out the light ash, tamped lightly and added the remaining blend to the top of the bowl, exhausting my supply. Following a relight, the remainder of the smoke was absolutely stellar...providing a full bowl that was in the zone. I've never added fresh on top of a half smoked bowl before, but the result was amazing. I'll certainly try this in the future!

I imagine that some blends will do OK with this and others will do something...weird.

 

[LIPIPE]

I've done just the opposite. Sometimes I half fill a bowl and then place some unburnt "dottle" from a previous smoke into the bowl on top of the fresh fill and finish my pack with a last pinch of fresh fill. The result "oreo" style is also very good. I only smoke English/Balkan so my dottle is pure tobacco with no wet goop. Per my signature statement, I never waste tobacco. I'll have to try your technique as well. I think, though, only in a midsize bowl. When I smoke a 90 to 100 minute large billiard or oom paul, I find that I've had enough smoke at that point. I always seem to gravitate to the large bowls and I prefer latakia in all of my blends. The really heavy blends like GLP Odessey are pretty uniform no matter how the bowl is layered. You might try my parfait technique.....a first pinch of your favorite tobacco, a mid layer distribution of some cigar leaf, and then a top pinch of tobacco. Midway, the burst of cigar makes for an enjoyable experience.

 

[R.A.]

I'm glad to know someone else has done this too, I have added new tobacco to a half smoked bowl and gotten good result, The type of tobacco I used was an aromatic.

One of the reason I tried it was usually the last 3rd of the bowl is not as good as the first 2. So first twing it was getting foul I sat the pipe down while I worked on a project and about 10 min later picked it up topped it off with fresh tobacco.

Perhaps it is the tobacco I am smoking but that last 3rd usually sucks, very bitter and harsh. I really envy you guys can smoke a bowl all the way to ash and enjoy it.

I had not thought to try the re=-cycle approach as LIPIPE mentioned and add that last 3rd I usually discard to a half new bowl. I will give it a try. Yea I really have not liked "wasting" tobacco.

I had looked at it like the last third was a sacrifice so I could enjoy the first 2 thirds my resolution was save it in a jar and add it to compost in the garden.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Spent much of the day "Forging" a new giant pipe nail.

Out of curiosity, let's see the giant pipe nail. 8)

Back to the topic at hand, yes - i've done that too (around the 1/3 to 1/2 way point). No problems to report, even with an aromatic...

 

[Blackhorse]

Hmmmmm -

...let's see the giant pipe nail.

Ah yes, a 'list of demands'.


It's like a Bruce Willis movie...

Die Hard 5: Hard As a Pipe Nail!

Yippie Ki Yea, Rob!

I'll see what I can do. May take a while. I'm slow...and stubborn.

 

[Frost]

I actually do this on occasion with a couple of va/pers, va/burs, and one or two burley blends.

The cubed burley types seem to work well with this sort of thing to me.

I tend to really enjoy that concentrated burley flavor that can takes some time to develop, so by topping off a half smoked bowl of the stuff and then smoking the whole thing I kinda get that concentrated flavor a little more in the beginning and then alot more through the middle and end.

Curiously, I also like what happens when I do this with va/pers and va/burs with brighter flavors, but sort of for the opposite reason. I kinda like the sharper sweetness and bright sort of tartness that you get from the first half or so of a bowl of something like Orlik G/S or C&D Sunday Picnic. By topping off a little about halfway through, it can bring the brightness & sharpness from the beginning of the smoke back (though not quite as "clear" as in the beginning of a completely fresh bowl) and extend that aspect of it a little.

 

[Blackhorse]

Ooh! Ooh! What if you NEVER smoked the bowl all the way down?!? You could just top off the bowl over and over and over and...well, you get it.

I'd guess you would want to do this little trick with a DGT friendly blend!

 

[dshpipes]

Ooh! Ooh! What if you NEVER smoked the bowl all the way down?!? You could just top off the bowl over and over and over and...well, you get it.

An interesting concept. Just imagine how saturated the tobacco on the bottom would become. I bet eventually it'd turn into pure cake filter. Mmmm... the possibilities...

I wonder what causes this phenomena. I haven't tried it yet myself but man am I curious now. There's a pipe club meeting this evening so I'll run this discovery past the boys and see if we can come to some scientific hypothesis. :scratch:

In any case, this sounds like an interesting way to enjoy your tobacco and I'll definitely give it a whirl!

 

[Blackhorse]

So if '06 Stonehaven is re-smoked in the bottom half a second time, does its age increase with each use as a linear or logarhythmic function?

 

[DAL]

Now this is most troubling. I'm just now grappling with the idea that space, at hyper microscopic sizes is, indeed, discreet. Now you're telling me bowls of tobacco, are, in fact, not discreet but continuous. And that the aging of the bottom of the bowl may be relative to the quantity of the continuous refilling in a non-linear manner.

Thank goodness I can load up a pipe with a strong English and ponder the deep consequences.

(Seriously... Really interesting topic, guys.)

 

[Frost]

Do not let it trouble you so DAL. After all, it really is quite simple once you realize and understand that all linearity is after all just illusion and nothing is ever really created or destroyed, except in certain extreme circumstances which really would never apply to pipe smoking anyway since it would seem rather unlikely that anyone will ever smoke a pipe in a black hole.

 

[Blackhorse]

The inside of a partially consumer bowl is a seperate and distinct quantum space, thus the normal laws of physics don't apply. Frost ALMOST hit it on the money as the inside of a bowl IS a sigularity...i.e. a black hole. I know this to be fact as it attracts and then devours all of MY money!

 

[nosenhoj]

Gentlemen;
This technique is not a new phenomenon, certainly not rocket science.A similar pratice has been performed in the past, by the" over sixty bunch", by tapping the bowl rim down on the heel of the hand,causing the burnt ash to fall from the bowl.
anything that is left in the bowl is tamped down, then the bowl is refilled with the
fresh blend.I can attest to the experience that Blackhorse reports, even though this event may vary with each individual, and or blend.I supose many of us have endured this phenomenom without really dwelling on the how and why.some of the brothers may not, for what ever the reason, indulge in articulating the nuance
of each bowl.But at the the end of the day, what really counts is the enjoyment of the endeavor. Thanks Blackhorse for bringing this to the surface.

"There's a story behind every bowl"

 

[Ozark Wizard]

I rummaged around in the BoB closet, and found this very interesting. I also am known to load a half burnt bowl, and not regretted it yet.. It happens, and it is good.

 

[AJ]

I rummaged around in the BoB closet, and found this very interesting. I also am known to load a half burnt bowl, and not regretted it yet.. It happens, and it is good.

I do this on occasion like when the blend I'm smoking needs a little more kick to it. However one day I was smoking some Half & Half and decided I needed to add a little something to give it more oomph. The only tobacco I had open that had the needed strength was SG 1792. I added a pinch to the bowl and relight my pipe. BIG MISTAKE! Never add 1792 to anything. I won't work. Pure nastiness! I don't know if adding that to the H & H was the result of a "senior" moment or a sudden attack of the DA. It won't happen again. :no:

AJ

 

[KevinM]

Hmmm. I've had some positive experiences with DGT, but it depends on the tobacco, packing, how far down in the bowl it's gone . . .  But on reloading in mid-bowl, I think -- You oughta have just dumped and started again from empty. But Experimentation is good even though results aren't always. As I recall, Holmes insistence on smoking dottle was based on frugality. While often commendable, I'd say the strategy isn't always applicable. It depends . . .

 

[rick]

NEVER .....waste the dottle!

And as for the discussion(s) regarding dottle"mud", black holes and rocket science, dont know nuttin bout that.
I'm just a stupid train dispatcher !

I will need to dig through my Igloodor tho - Think I may have some turn of the century Stonehaven lurking near the bottom

 

[Hermit]

I've tried it...usually regretted it. 
I'd finish the bowl, but wouldn't load on top of it.