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Smoking the Dottle
I'd like to hear how many of you actually smoke the dottle vs. dump out that last bit of nasty tobacco. I have never been able to smoke that last bit of tobacco without several re-lights and a mouthful of ash. I'd also love to hear your technique if you do typically smoke it.
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http://www.pipes.org/wp-content/uploads/Articles/140_Different_Varieties.text
Excerpt:
<<Sherlock Holmes does seem to have settled on the cheapest and strongest tobacco he could find, for everyday smoking at least. And Watson, in the early stages of their acquaintance, did the same, for in _A Study in Scarlet_ Holmes asks if Watson has any objections to strong tobacco, and Watson replies that he always smokes 'ship's' himself. 'Ship's' is corded plug, formed by placing the leaves of an inexpensive tobacco - in Watson's day, quite probably the inferior "Nicotiana rustica", rather than the now universal "N. tabacum" - on top of one another in a long row, then rolling them up and compressing them, originally with a thin cord, though machinery was used on a commercial scale later. When the resulting roll was a very thin one, the tobacco was called 'pig-tail,' and this form was widely smoked, or, in the days of wooden hulls, when burning tobacco would have been a fire hazard, chewed, by sailors.
'Ship's' can still be found at specialist tobacconists, but is not recommended for those of a weak constitution. The mere act of lighting the pipe produces a concentrated blast of tar and nicotine at the back of the throat, which makes breathing extremely difficult. There is no taste as such, only a harsh, rasping sensation, and the fumes and smell are 'acrid', just as Watson describes them in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. A marvellous line by the underrated Nigel Bruce, in one of his films with Rathbone, sums it up very well: 'Fresh in here. Smells like a pub after closing time.'
If Holmes' before breakfast pipe consisted, as Watson says in "The Engineer's Thumb", of plugs and dottles from yesterday's smokes, and if he had been smoking 'ship's' yesterday, then it is not surprising that he sometimes left his breakfast - and other meals - untouched.
Holmes remained faithful to his early love, the strongest possible tobacco, frequently asking Watson to arrange for vast quantities of 'shag' to be sent round. 'Shag' is a generic term for any rough-cut tobacco, but Holmes usually insists on the strongest available.>>
http://www.pipes.org/wp-content/uploads/Articles/140_Different_Varieties.text
Excerpt:
<<Sherlock Holmes does seem to have settled on the cheapest and strongest tobacco he could find, for everyday smoking at least. And Watson, in the early stages of their acquaintance, did the same, for in _A Study in Scarlet_ Holmes asks if Watson has any objections to strong tobacco, and Watson replies that he always smokes 'ship's' himself. 'Ship's' is corded plug, formed by placing the leaves of an inexpensive tobacco - in Watson's day, quite probably the inferior "Nicotiana rustica", rather than the now universal "N. tabacum" - on top of one another in a long row, then rolling them up and compressing them, originally with a thin cord, though machinery was used on a commercial scale later. When the resulting roll was a very thin one, the tobacco was called 'pig-tail,' and this form was widely smoked, or, in the days of wooden hulls, when burning tobacco would have been a fire hazard, chewed, by sailors.
'Ship's' can still be found at specialist tobacconists, but is not recommended for those of a weak constitution. The mere act of lighting the pipe produces a concentrated blast of tar and nicotine at the back of the throat, which makes breathing extremely difficult. There is no taste as such, only a harsh, rasping sensation, and the fumes and smell are 'acrid', just as Watson describes them in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. A marvellous line by the underrated Nigel Bruce, in one of his films with Rathbone, sums it up very well: 'Fresh in here. Smells like a pub after closing time.'
If Holmes' before breakfast pipe consisted, as Watson says in "The Engineer's Thumb", of plugs and dottles from yesterday's smokes, and if he had been smoking 'ship's' yesterday, then it is not surprising that he sometimes left his breakfast - and other meals - untouched.
Holmes remained faithful to his early love, the strongest possible tobacco, frequently asking Watson to arrange for vast quantities of 'shag' to be sent round. 'Shag' is a generic term for any rough-cut tobacco, but Holmes usually insists on the strongest available.>>
"Please do not throw butts in the urinals; it makes them soggy and hard to light...."
[sorry]
https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/doting-dottle-advice-smoking-the-bottom-the-bowl
http://www.pipes.org/wp-content/uploads/Articles/140_Different_Varieties.text
<<If Holmes' before breakfast pipe consisted, as Watson says in "The Engineer's Thumb", of plugs and dottles from yesterday's smokes, and if he had been smoking 'ship's' yesterday, then it is not surprising that he sometimes left his breakfast – and other meals – untouched.>>
<<We all know about the black shag that Holmes smoked, and his (disgusting) habit of drying his dottle for resmoking at a later point......>>