When to give up the ghost?

[forsooth]

Hello, brothers --

How do you decide that a bowl is at an end? By putting the relight flame deeper and deeper into the bowl, I can usually get more smoking time, but I was thinking that others might not want to go that far. Sometimes, at the end, I can hear the embers sizzling the moisture in the bowl.

 

[Harlock999]

For me, a maximum of three re-lights. After that, I find the enjoyment and flavor greatly diminished.

 

[Navydad]

I try to keep my pipe smoking simple. The end of the bowl is when I feel like ending it. Sometimes half way somtimes near the bottom. If I go to the bottom, I do like Harlock, three relights and thats it. I rarely smoke it all the way.

 

[itsKot]

I almost always smoke 'em until there's nothing left. Being a relatively new pipe smoker and not a heavy one at that none of my pipes have a dense cake yet. And being as obsessed as I am with keeping them in good shape I keep smoking em till the bottom to ensure adequate cake buildup. One of these days that may change as my cake grows thicker.

 

[forsooth]

Interesting responses and good to know! Thanks!

 

[dougc905]

When I pull in the driveway at home, that's it for the pipe.

Usually just a bit in the bottom of the bowl at that point though...

 

[momus]

I think after a while the whole experience just gets annoying near the bottom if you keep trying to smoke the last drop, so to speak. I think I'm learning, or have learned, to chill out about the pipe and being too anal about always making sure the carbon buildup is perfect and thus smoking all the way down...thus, if I'm done, I am done with it. No biggie. It's a pipe. The pt is to enjoy it not try squeeze everything out of it...if I do that smoking becomes a chore instead of a pleasure. Hmmm, speaking of which I just finish a decent Fuente cigar, now its on to the Carter Hall/ Golden Cavendish mixture I "blended" (very scientifically) together...sounds good!

 

[Harlock999]

I think after a while the whole experience just gets annoying near the bottom if you keep trying to smoke the last drop, so to speak. I think I'm learning, or have learned, to chill out about the pipe and being too anal about always making sure the carbon buildup is perfect and thus smoking all the way down...thus, if I'm done, I am done with it. No biggie. It's a pipe. The pt is to enjoy it not try squeeze everything out of it...if I do that smoking becomes a chore instead of a pleasure. Hmmm, speaking of which I just finish a decent Fuente cigar, now its on to the Carter Hall/ Golden Cavendish mixture I "blended" (very scientifically) together...sounds good!

I agree!

 

[Anonymous]

If it's a tobacco such as an English mixture or a flake that you can pack so the tobacco stays up off the bottom of the bowl, smoking it down to nothing left is easy and enjoyable.

Difficulty/annoyance at the heel happens because it's absorbed moisture there that doesn't have room to dry. Just set it aside for a while. When it's dried, smoke it.

There are people who do this deliberately ("delayed gratification technique"). Similarly, you can resume smoking a pipe you've had to put aside later (even weeks later). The flavor thins out and lightens, but it's still there.

:face: