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SMITHENHALS

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Well, this weekend I was determined to enjoy a long relaxing smoke out in my hammock by my fishing pier, but as usual had a terrible experience, and burnt tongue. My pipe is a Stanwell Golden Danish, 63. Has anyone experienced problems smoking this pipe? I concentrated on packing the bowl properly, smoking slow and evenly, and still had to relight every 5 puffs...I was smoking some wilke rumcake and for about 30 seconds the smoke tasted cool, smooth and full of delicious rum flavor, and then went back to hot air flavor. :cry:
 
Was the tobacco too moist? If so you might let it air dry 30 min - 1 hour before packing your pipe. I spread it out on a paper plate for this.
 
It was a little moist but I have a tin of MacBaren I tried this weekend also, it had the same problem.
 
SMITHENHALS":qs8vleu7 said:
It was a little moist but I have a tin of MacBaren I tried this weekend also, it had the same problem.
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Mac Baren is a notorious tongue biter! I find it needs to be very dry.
 
The other problem with the MacBaren tin is the texture of the tobacco, it is very long, uneven and has large pieces of hard stem in it.
 
I have a Stanwell Golden Danish 63 and use it as one of my take-to-work pipes, so it sees a lot of use. A great pipe with no issues at all. I doubt that your pipe is the issue, more likely the choice of tobacco/moisture level/ packing technique. I'd recommend trying a C&D burley blend as they are usually fairly dry right out of the tin, rarely ever do they bite, and they are readily available. MacBaren is a notorious biter, and I've smoked a couple of Wilke blends that can bite. The thing about bite is it's all in the mouth chemistry. What bites one guy may not bite another, so you just have to keep trying til you find one. By sticking with a burley and avoiding the notoriously bitey blends you'll have greater chance for success. And remember, do not pack it too tight as this can lead to bite as well. Better to pack a little looser than you'd think is right. If it turns out to be too loose you can always tamp it down a little tighter, but I'd bet if you intentionally pack loosely and stay with it (resist that urge to pack it down, just let the weight of the tamper flatten the ash and don't press down on it) you'll find that you have a better smoking experience.
 
SMITHENHALS":fypiljxu said:
The other problem with the MacBaren tin is the texture of the tobacco, it is very long, uneven and has large pieces of hard stem in it.
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Rub it between your hands onto the paper plate, this will grind & crimp it to make it more packable also helps it to dry quicker.
 
Stanwell 63 is a great design from a pipe maker's standpoint. I have one - works good. I find Stanny's a little bit elusive for flavor until they are well broken in. They don't smoke as crappy as a new Peterson, but I don't find Stanwells to have quite the flavor range of some pipes until they are really well seasoned. Long and short of it: problem ain't the pipe.

I agree with other commentators here - sounds to me like the baccy was just a tad moist.

I had problems with Mac Barens broken flake style of tobacco too for a long time. The trouble seems to be that it feels quite dry in this form, but actually isn't, and if you rub it out, you will find that it is fairly damp. Now I just grab a hunk of the stuff, maybe rub it a bit, but usually not, and leave it on a plate until it is almost crispy dry. Not quite but almost. Then I just ram it into the pipe and tamp it a little.

At this stage, I pay hardly any attention to the form of my tobaccos - I smoke flakes, rolls, crumble cake... I hardly pay any attention to tobacco prep other than I make sure it's reasonably dry before I smoke.

Personally, I find rum "enhanced" tobaccos to be brutal biters, and don't recommend them.

Find yourself a tin of Commonwealth Mixture and forget your worries. :)
 
I think Puffy is dead on right! It's likely NOT your pipe unless of course it was a brand spankin' new without proper cake on it's walls. In that case it may take time to come around. All pipes break in differently.

I flatter myself to say that I have access to a world class collection of pipes. The funny thing is that I smoke my Stans most of all! I own 18-20 of them and all are first rate smokers. Not a dud in the lot.

I also am a BIG fan of some Macbaren's tobaccos. I've never had even the hint of tongue burn with the ones I smoke regularly. I find with MacB's flakes it's best not to rub them out. Just fold them into the bowl as MB recommends on it's website...
 
It is a brand new pipe, with only 4-5 smokes on it. I think the problem is in my tobacco. I only have a few (wet) aromatic blends that I simply can’t taste, so I puff them hard trying to get some rich tobacco flavor that is just not there. Not having a tobacco shop nearby makes it hard to just go pick up a tin of good tobacco I here you guys talking about because I have to mail order.
 
So mail order!

4noggins.com, smokingpipes.com, there's a hundred internet tobacco sources.

From what you are saying, it may be time for you to step into a different type of tobacco.

Maybe hit tobaccoreviews.com and check on things for yourself, but I would recommend as a major upgrade in flavor from drugstore stuff:

Frog Morton by McClelland
221b: Arcadia by McClelland (or Presbyterian Mixture by William Solomon)
Commonwealth by Samuel Gawith

Scottish Cake by Robert McConnell
Escudo by AC Petersen

Peterson Connoiseur's Choice has some flavor, as aromatics go, but burns hot as the fires of hell itself.
 
I like "Crispy dry" ..................thats a good description of what I look for when smoking a flake.

I chop em up into little cubes and let them air dry until, well..........see above.
Seems the only way I can enjoy them without the relight every 5 puffs scenario
 
SMITHENHALS":cjclm0m1 said:
It is a brand new pipe, with only 4-5 smokes on it. I think the problem is in my tobacco. I only have a few (wet) aromatic blends that I simply can’t taste, so I puff them hard trying to get some rich tobacco flavor that is just not there. Not having a tobacco shop nearby makes it hard to just go pick up a tin of good tobacco I here you guys talking about because I have to mail order.
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Puffing hard a high aromatic lend is to ask for tongue bite, and in a new pipe that's even worst.
If you have to live (as I have) with drugstore blends try to find Amphora Red, so far it's the safest I found.
I only tryed 2 MacBaren blends, one of them, Virginia #1 is very good, but it's not a blend for the beginner, it bites as hell. MacBaren Mixture (Scottish blend) is safer, and it's quite good.
I find out that the aroma in very aromatic blends fades away if you let it run to hot, so you'll get a better smoke if you're able to smoke slowly. If you smoke alone you'll puff faster than you do if you're talking with someone.

Another important thing is to get at least more 1 or 2 pipes, even if they are cheap basket pipes.
Your Stanwell must be allowed to dry up before you smoke it again, you can't let it run to hot before it have a good cake, or you risk to burn an hole on it.
 
SMITHENHALS":2kgrwo1t said:
So would smoking the same pipe every afternoon keep it from drying properly?
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It depends on many factors, but in my experience, a day's rest is fine (provided you clean out pipe properly).
 
SMITHENHALS":zdqm8qeg said:
So would smoking the same pipe every afternoon keep it from drying properly?
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It depends. If you smoke only 1 bowl every afternoon you don't have to worry about it (unless you live in the Amazonas), just use a pipe cleaner after each smoke and you'll be ok.

If you smoke 4 or 5 bowls then you should get at least another pipe.

Any hardcore smoker will tell you that you should only use any pipe once in a day. That's ok for someone that have 10 ths of pipes and only smoke at home.

I grab a different pipe every morning (I have 5 pipes but only 3 street pipes) and smoke it all day and with the same tobacco. At night I use one of the home pipes, the other day I use another one, and so on. And I can tell you, at the end of the day that pipe is soggy, a 2 days rest is not to much.
That's called the rotation. One should rotate pipes and tobaccos, smoking the same tobacco all week long is a bit dull. I want to select at least 5 all day blends so I can rotate tobaccos every day.

So far I've selected Amphora Red, Mac Baren Mixture and Skandinavik Mixture.
For home I only have Presbyterian Mixture and Davidoff English Mixture, but I'll mail order soon...

By the way, I'm only smoking a pipe for 2 months, I'm hardly an expert on this.
 
I usually carry two different pipes per day in my rotation and I smoke 1-2 bowls in each pipe during the day. So someitmes I do smoke a couple of bowls in the same pipe in a 24 hour period. I have enough pipes in my rotation that I could technically never smoke the same pipe twice in a 25-30 day period but there are some that just always call me back every few days.
 
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