I didn’t win. A total of six other pipe smokers smoked longer than I did. Meaning I failed in my attempt to win three years in a row. Fellow New Orleans Pipe Club member, Frank Mares finished after 1 hour, 21 minutes and Pipe Club Member Charles Williams, Jr., was second at 1 hour, 18 minutes. In contrast, I was only able to keep my pipe lit for 59 minutes. At least that was good enough for seventh place.
Fortunately, for me, the Mayan Imports Annual Pipe Night this year had seven pipes for prizes, so I still received one. The prize pipes included a beautiful Rinaldo Triad (Donated by Monjure International), which I was coveting (I have two Rinaldo Triads won in past competitions.) Other pipes included at SMS Meerschaum, a Chacom, a Peterson, a Savinelli Miele, a Rocky Patel Versailles (by Nording) and a Rossi by Savinelli. I received the Rocky Patel which I thought would have been one of the top four pipes taken.
Anyway, I looked back at the competition to understand what happened. I used the same Stefano Santambrogio the past two years and won, so, it wasn’t the pipe. Everyone smoked the same tobacco – Red Cake – and the same amount that I had. Thus, I couldn’t blame the tobacco. And, it wasn’t the packing, I had a good draw. It was my fault. I was off my game.
Why I didn’t “win”…
To begin with, if you don’t get a good charring light with the first match, your chances of winning decreases greatly. Normally, with the first match I can get a nice even light and the top surface of the tobacco and it stays lit through my initial tamping. This didn’t happen. The first match went out before I got an even char. And, with one match left to get a good, even burn I struck it and managed to get about half of the bowl lit.
That created my second problem, I needed to puff faster and tamp more in the beginning to get the tobacco burning evenly. In my opinion, three things necessary to win a long smoke competition is pack the bowl correctly, get a good light and a good smoking cadence. Having to puff faster and work the tobacco more threw off my normal puffing cadence. and in my opinion, created gloppy dottle in the bottom of the bowl.
Here’s my theory. The faster you puff, the hotter the tobacco at the top of the bowl will burn. Consequently, tobacco directly under the burn heats up and generates moisture and steam. The moisture seeps down and collects in the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl. Once the fire gets to the overly wet tobacco it goes out. As a result I went from a healthy puff of smoke to being out, that is what happened to me.
For this reason a slow and steady cadence keeps the tobacco lit without generating as much steam and moisture. You want the tobacco to burn at a slightly higher temperature than a smolder. If you look at your bowl and see a hot, cherry red coal, you are probably puffing too fast.
Don’t tamp too hard…
Let’s talk about tamping. Lightly tamping during a long smoke can keep the burn smoldering, heavy tamping can stamp the fire out. I lightly tamp. I take the tamp between my thumb and forefinger, place the foot at the top of the bowl and then let it slip through my fingers. This way only the weight of the tamp does the tamping. I repeat this all around the bowl.
Lightly tamping like this keeps the surface burn in contact with the tobacco in the bowl. Heavy tamping can compress the tobacco more tightly and decrease the draw. That means less airflow which can lead to your pipe going out.
(© J. Gibson Creative, March 31, 2018)
Comments
I should have worded the question better. Sorry…one more question ,So they do allow competitors to use cleaners during competition? Is that a standard rule or does it depend on the organizer? Thanks!
Author
Personally, I’ve never seen a competition whic prohibited use of pipe cleaners. Different competitions have different rules for tamping though. In some, you can only tamp when the pipe is in your mouth.
Hey Joe! It’s Steve aka ocpunk714. Love the blog. Your smoking competition looked like a ton of fun and that’s cool your club took home quite a few prizes. My question for you relates to keeping the pipe cool for a long smoke. I can maybe get a good 10-20 minutes without having to drop in a cleaner.
Are there any other ways to keep my pipe going longer like say, how your holding the pipe in your mouth or should I clench less and keep in hand more? Is there a certain method you use to get a consistent flow with your pipe? I’m still having a hard time keeping a rhythm. Sorry for the essay. Lol. I just have some questions because I am intrigued by these contests.
Author
Every pipe I smoke gets between warm and hot because I’m burning tobacco. But, your question puzzled me because of your reference to “drop in a cleaner.” That’s a moisture problem and I’ve seen pipe smokers run a cleaner through the stem even in long smoke competition. Smoking cadence is something you have to teach yourself. I can tell you what to do but you still have to practice it until it becomes second nature. I basically use the breathe method which is putting the pipe in my mouth and breathe normally – slow and steady.