Finally Took The Plunge

[LarryH]

Trying a pipe has been on my mind for months.  A couple of recent comments about pipe smoking made me finally take the plunge.  First the idea that pipes are cheaper (or can be) than cigars in the long run and second is being able to tailor the smoke to the length of time available.  Then about a week ago I was looking at Missouri Meerchaum's pipes and at the end of the list was the 10 pipe smokable seconds grab bag... So I jumped!  Friday while running errands I dropped by the local B&M and picked up the rest of what I needed to get started.  Here it is.
 
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Here are some photos that I took of the MM pipe bowls.  The only issues I saw besides some cosmetic stuff are the stem placements.  I guess it's not supposed to affect the way it smokes that much.  I don't know.
 
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What do our experienced members think?
 

 

[Rod]

Nice pipes! Don't get discouraged when your pipe keeps going out.  It takes time to learn how to properly pack it.  Once you do, you'll be able to smoke the entire bowl without it going out. There are some good youtube videos on this.  I prefer the 3 layer method.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tImGLFF6d-4
 
What tobaccos did you buy? 

 

[LarryH]

Thanks for the great, short, to the point video.  I've watched a lot of videos so far and that is one of the best.  It looks like he is really packing it in.
 
I've smoked about 2 bowls so far.  The first was the aromatic Cavendish and is a cut tobacco.  I'm pretty sure I packed it too loose.  I worried through the first half of the bowl having to constantly relight it.  I don't think it was too moist.  I finally gave up and stuck the pipe in a Ziploc and finished it up the next day.  It stayed lit much better.
 
The second was the non aromatic Watson's Choice which I believe is an English blend.  It has a slight smoky aroma.  It's a broken flake or crumble cake I guess.  I wasn't sure what to do with it so started watching videos.  I finally found one that showed how to rub it out between your hands into a ball.  I then stuffed that into the pipe.  It worked better than the first bowl but I still had to relight a lot.  I had several 10 to 15 minute runs which were pretty good.

 

[Setharsis]

Great video.  A lot of other descriptions of how tight to pack the bowl seem too weak to me; I've ended up packing them much stronger than what I started out with and am getting much better runs now.  But it's fun figuring it all out anyway.