How Dry is Your Tobacco?

PipeProfessor

When smoking your favorite blend, how dry is your tobacco? What are your suggestions for best practices when packing the perfect bowl?

drfrankenstein56

I like mine on the dry side... like 5 brothers dry, just about to start dusting. This is where I have my best luck and enjoyment, any more moisture and my mouth is on fire. I usually use the football method with 2 or 3 small balls before the mix is completely dry. then allow to finish drying in the bowl for a few more hours.

judandhispipe

I don't dry out my tobacco at all. I just load and light.

drac2485

Normally, I just load and light as @judandhispipe said.  However, there are a few aromatic blends that I smoke that are wetter than wet.  If I smoke them I normally just pack the pipe the night before smoking it so it has a chance to dry out a bit.

Topaz75

One of the the things that has made me such a fan of the Borkum Riff blends is that they seem to be just about right in this regard. They are moist enough to pack nicely, but are dry enough to burn really well. Any tobacco that causes me to be constantly relighting the pipe is simply not worth the trouble.

As I recall from many years ago, my grandfather occasionally put a small slice of orange peel in his pouch as a way of keeping the tobacco from becoming too dry.

pipesith

I smoke as is most of the time. There are a few flake tobaccos I may dry but other than that it's fill and light.

PappyJoe

My Gawaith & Hoggarth blends have to dry out before they are smokeable. 

judandhispipe

I rarely smoke aros; the ones I do smoke are high-end enough that they aren't goopy. @topaz75, putting orange peel or an apple slice in your pouch is not a real good practice, even if the old timers used to do it. Put tobacco in jars if you aren't going to smoke it within a couple of weeks, and you won't have a problem. OTC aros have enough chemicals on them to keep them fresh, it shouldn't be a problem with BR, anyway.

Topaz75

Right you are, judandhispipe. I have never had an issue with the Bokum Riff staying fresh. Of course, I very rarely have an open tin or pouch that sits around very long. If I've got it, I smoke it.

PipeProfessor

@topaz75 Thats good to hear. The only pouch of Bokum Riff I ever got was super dry from the start. 

ghostsofpompeii

It's been my experience that dry tobacco and tongue burn go together like Lewis & Martin, Abbott & Costello, and Amos & Andy. The dryer the tobacco the worse the burn. Last night's mixing experiment of three Sutliff maple blends ... Maple Street, Maple Walnut, and Rum And Maple were a perfect example. I had an old tobacco pouch in a drawer with a mixture of Rum and Maple and Maple Walnut that had been sitting around for a few months. The zipper on the pouch was not completely closed and the tobacco inside was dry and brittle. There wasn't enough in the pouch to waste my time rehydrating - so instead I decided to mix in some Maple Street from a tin I just opened hoping it would help to moisten and revive the tobacco. Well under normal conditions each of these blends are fantastic, cool smoking blends, never once giving me tongue bite ... but apparently the addition of Maple Street didn't help tone down the other two dry blends because there was considerable fire in both my bowl and my mouth.    

Woodsman

Topaz75 is right about the Borkum Riff, right from pouch to pipe.

I test tobacco by pinching some, if it holds together in clumps it's too wet, if it crumbles it's too dry. If it springs back it's a go. 

xDutchx

Most of the time, I like mine "crispy." If it is too dry, it will turn to dust very easily. If it is just right, it will light easily, and most blends won't struggle to stay lit, but a few will still.

I don't worry too much about my tobacco being too dry, because the burning of the tobacco at the top of the bowl, will automatically deposit moisture into the tobacco below it, as it is burning. If I feel the tobacco at the top of the bowl is too dry, I will form a ring with my thumb and index finger, and place it at the top of the bowl. Then I will exhale thru my thumb and forefinger, and add just the right amount of moisture to the top of the bowl, without adding any to the tobacco in the middle or bottom of the bowl.

My goal is to start out as dry as reasonably possible, in order to avoid a goopy mess, by the time I reach the last 1/3rd of the bowl.