Filling the Pipe
The process of filling a pipe is simple, yet important to smoking pleasure. If the bowl is packed too tightly with too few air spaces the pipe will go out easily and have to be relit often. A pipe packed too loosely will burn hot and fast, the trick is to aspire to a happy medium somewhere in between.
The proper way to fill your pipe is in pinches. Make sure your tobacco is well rubbed; trying to pack the bowl with tobacco in clumps is not going to work. The first pinch at the bottom should be tamped down with your fingers ever so lightly to leave a maximum of air between tobacco at the bottom of the bowl. Tamp the second tamp down a little more firmly, the third more firmly still, and so on till the pipe is filled.
As you fill the pipe, draw through the mouthpiece to check on the air flow. If it draws too easily, tamp down a little more firmly. If it is difficult to draw, empty your bowl and start again or you will find yourself constantly relighting your pipe. Remember once the tobacco is alight tamping with the finger is not recommended. Everyone has their own favourite tamper – mine is a soft nosed .357 Magnum round, inert of course.
Filling one’s pipe is an art in itself. As your expertise grows you will find your skill a source of great satisfaction.
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