Cake building tips.

[gilgawulf]

In another post I've mentioned a little about some of the awful tastes I get in my pipes. I've come to the conclusion that a lot of this has to do with them being wet at the bottom (as the bottom is when the smoke starts to get the awful taste). I'm assuming that having a better cake on the bottom will help aleviate this to some degree. However, that seems to be the one place where a cake doesn't want to form!
I've tried smoking half bowls. I've tried smoking the tobacco until it just won't smoke anymore (and still-- STILL!-- there are always those three or four scraps of tobacco that refuse to burn). I've tried mollases. I've tried saliva. What am I doing wrong?
I know I should probably give my pipes longer to rest, but that's difficult as I only own a few and I'm a very heavy smoker transitioning away from cigarettes. Still, I try to give each pipe a day off after I've been smoking it for a day. Am I supposed to smoke them once and then leave them alone for a day?

 

[Muddler]

Cake WILL form - just give it time. Anyway, I'm not sure it's the cake that's the problem. Pipes do need time to dry out - that's likely to be part of it. Are you using a pipe cleaner after each smoke, to mop up the gunk? Personally, I push a pipe cleaner through after each smoke & siometimes during - if the smoke becomes wet. It may be better to alternate your pipes (personal view) after each smoke or two rather than going a whole day on one pipe.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm almost willing to bet your smoking Petersons. The bad taste is the moisture at the bottom. Question for you, you are inserting a pipe cleaner immediately after smoking, right?

When I first started smoking, I too only had a handful of pipes. Moreover, I thought that I put a pipe cleaner in, gave it a twist and repeated if it did not come out white. I was having the same problem, that it was still not dry when I wanted to smoke it again.

So, I began inserting pipe cleaners and leaving them in to absorb moisture. I still kind of do this even though it's been suggested that this isn't a good idea (can't remember the reason).

I try not so smoke a pipe more than once a week now. I know you may be on a fixed budget, but you really need to get to a 7 day set if you're a daily smoker. (you will need more if you smoke more than once a day)

Having said that, I survived with a few pipes most of my life. If I smoke a pipe for the better part of a day, I let it rest. The next day, I smoke another. The third day, yet another. With just 3 pipes, you can give a pipe 2 days rest. With only 3-5 pipes, I would not be smoking several pipes a day. I still prefer to let a pipe rest 7 days, but like I said for the better part of my life, I didn't have that many pipes.

 

[TallSmoke]

I just recently got my 7th pipe and I am starting to see a positive difference with taste in rotating them out once a week.

I'm still sort of freaking out about how this $5 pipe I got years ago smokes now. It was my second pipe, was in a basket, had a crack in the stem that had been repaired. Looks a bit like junk but, wow, smokes so good. That has nothing to do with this topic, but I just had to share. Sorry.

 

[Sasquatch]

I think the reasoning behind NOT leaving a pipe cleaner in a pipe is that it will dry out faster if exposed to air. A wettish cleaner sitting in a pipe is just a place for mould to grow. I take my pipes apart after every smoke, dry them right out with pipe cleaners and or q-tips. Then I leave them apart for a day. Dry as bones after that.

To build your heel cake, you might try stirring up the ashes left when your smoke is done, and just give the bowl a shake (with your hand over top!). This gives a fine coating of ash all over the bowl, and it will stick well where the pipe is wet (ie the bottom).

Dry your tobacco out a bit before you smoke, and smoke fairly slow. If you really haul on a pipe, it will always be wet because it can't dissipate the moisture you are creating during the burn (water is a product of combustion).

In all honesty, I have some pipes that smoke right to the last crumb no problem, and some pipes that just kinda don't. And that's fine too.... let's face it - you are talking about the last 5 minutes of a 1 hour smoke, right? (If you want to smoke longer, buy a bigger pipe :cheers: )

 

[Anonymous]

This whole issue is, as it seems to me, a wet heel that never gets a chance to dry out thoroughly. As a consequence, mildew-like nastiness grows in the residue and turns the pipe sour.

There are four aspects to the solution.

One is to smoke the wet dottle you're describing at the heel. This is easier to accomplish than it seems. When (if) you're down to a soggy clump, fluff up the ash over it, pour it (the ash) out, and let the pipe sit -- as is -- until the next day. Then, once it's dried out, simply re-light and smoke what's left. The heat involved will dry it.

Two is to adjust the density of the tobacco (both in packing and tamping) to where you don't have to deal with said soggy mess because you haven't created one in the first place. (Sasquatch's tempo pointer factors into this as well. Density & tempo are inter-related).

Three is to recognise that there is a practical limit to how hard you can push any briar and expect a decent smoke from it. My experience has been that a (dry) briar needs at least one day of rest for every time it's been smoked to deliver a decent taste. I.e.,if you smoke it once, let it rest the next day. If you smoke it two or three times the same day (no problem, usually), let it rest two or three days (depending) before smoking it again. Even then it's going to gradually let you know that you're pushing it too hard by not tasting the way it does when it's well rested.

Finally, the type of tobacco you're smoking factors into the equation as well. Briars seem to be (if memory serves) a lot more tolerant of over-smoking with drugstore burlies (relatively low sugar content) than they are to Virginias (and probably aromatics, for the same reason).

If you're between the rock of wanting to smoke more often and the hard place of pipes foul from over-use, your short-term solution may be some cobs to take up the slack.

This will (hopefully) at least put you in the ballpark.

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

I think the reasoning behind NOT leaving a pipe cleaner in a pipe is that it will dry out faster if exposed to air. A wettish cleaner sitting in a pipe is just a place for mould to grow. )

That is the consensus, but I find a pipe cleaner absorbs moisture. I'm not advocating leaving it in for a week, just a couple of hours to help with absoption.

I guess it would depend how wet we're talking.

 

[Stefanos]

I take my pipes apart after every smoke, dry them right out with pipe cleaners and or q-tips. Then I leave them apart for a day. Dry as bones after that. )

Thanks for the good tips.
I don't try to smoke the last bits in the bowl. In that case I wonder if you even need a bottom cake.

Do you find, Sasquatch, that leaving the stem out of the shank for a long period of time will make for a loose fit?

 

[Carlos]

You need a PAD attack bad. :tongue:


I have found that having a lot of pipes helps. Tobaccos with a burley in them seems to cake quickest for me.

 

[Sasquatch]

Stefanos, I have never had any issues at all leaving a pipe stem out for a night or for a week even. I suppose the briar could creep a bit over a long time, but really, it's pretty stable stuff.

 

[Anonymous]

I take my pipes apart after every smoke, dry them right out with pipe cleaners and or q-tips. Then I leave them apart for a day. Dry as bones after that. )

Thanks for the good tips.
I don't try to smoke the last bits in the bowl. In that case I wonder if you even need a bottom cake.

Smoking the last bits is what will build cake at the bottom. Many think cake at the bottom is not a big deal. I think it was Rad that said somewhere he doesn't worry about it.

Personally, I like to have a good cake (maybe that's how I got fat!) at the bottom of the bowl.

 

[gilgawulf]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Already I've been doing the thing where I just leave the last bits in, let them dry out, and then smoke them later. I think the best advice though was that having a lot of pipes helps. A PAD attack was just what I needed. It was just a cheap "Tom Briar" I picked up, but it will be one more pipe to enlist in my effort to give my pipes at least a full days rest between uses.