packing larger bowled pipes??

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Davey

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Just picked up an Il Ceppo. Large bowl. 15/16 by around 1 1/4" deep.

The weed wanted to keep going out. I packed it the same as my smaller chamered pipes. Should I be modifying my technique with this larger bore somehow?
 
I am not so sure I pack a large bowl differently. What I do is sort of mound the ash with the tamper. So fresh air would seem to go around the sides. Maybe a quick touch of a match occasionally. Even though it's not really out. Kind of evening out the coal I suppose.

Maybe I play with my tobacco a lot. Seems to work. :)
 
Though I don't have many large pipes, I don't really pack them any different. My tamping is similar to Carlos' in that I tamp from front to back using a angled faced tamper. Before my Bentley lighter went south, I used the tamper on it at about a 45 degree angle.

Good luck,
Jim
 
Same here Davey. All good advice above. Mound as you tamp. In other words Tamp around the outside edge at an angle.
 
Do you guys use this technique all the time or just with your bigger bowls?

What doe sthis technique do?

Thanks,
Lucky
 
Well, I noticed that if the pipe seems to want to go out and stay out. A light tamp doesn't help. I dump the ash carefully. What remains in the bowl often has a dished look. So I move the charred tobacco from the edges towards the center and get a more flat or mounded appearance. A quick light and I am off again. Need to be careful approaching the bottom of the bowl, or you could get a mouthful of hot ash on your tongue. It's easy to smoke most dry blends to the bottom of the bowl doing this.
 
I dry my tobacco out quite a bit. It makes for a better smoking experience to me. Unless the tobacco is bone dry and crumbley it is going to moisten up a bit when you put the fire to it anyway. As Carlos, I usually gently dump the ashes about 1/2-2/3 of the way through the bowl and gently reposition the tobacco as Carlos described. I believe this method makes for an enjoyable smoke all the way to the bottom.
 
....I think there's something wrong with my processing right now :scratch:

I don't get it. Are you guys saying to "scrape" away the ash from the sides to the center when you are 1/2 way down and re-light? Or are you doing this during the smoke.

Or are you just not tamping the middle and tamping only the sides at angle as Mark states???




....and what does this do? ( sorry guys, I am an analytical learner)
 
Davey,

For me it's always difficult to get an even burn across width of a large bowl pipe. The most burning for me is taking place closest to the air hole. I counter act this by tamping (or scraping) the ash/partially burned tobacco toward the air hole trying to keep the radius of the top of the tobacco equidistant from air hole.

Jim...hoping this makes sense
 
Alright, that made sense.

Now.....Mark, Carlos....??
 
I find with the larger bowls they start out good but as time progresses and they get about halfway down in the smoke they go out my experance has shown me its from the tampering with the large bowls you tamper more so its harder twords the bottom try packing the bottom more losely than normal but keep the top about the same as normal. As you smoke i recomend the scraping the tobacco from the sides to the center as you smoke i do this when i smoke any pipe out of habit as well.
 
I believe this to be a subject crossed over from another thread, but why scrape toward center....to even out the burn/airflow?


Do I have it right now?










Davey The Learner
 
Davey,

It is more like mounding up in the center by tamping the outer edges at an angle towards the center. Or at least that is how I do it.
 
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