Beat the Gurgling!! Here's how . . . . .
- Thread starter gord
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Not for nothing, but I almost never dry my tobacco and smoke in a humid environment, and my main pipe is a bent pipe, a meer with the modern two-piece delrin mortise/tenon thing, which isn't known for lessening condensing in the shank, and I don't seem to have gurgling that often.
So it's possible to avoid gurgle with good technique even without drying the tobacco.
So it's possible to avoid gurgle with good technique even without drying the tobacco.
That sounds quite laborious to me. I mostly smoke C&D bulk blends and don't have to worry about dry time or gurgle. I'm glad that you were able to figure something out that works for you.
None of my Petersons gurgle or any of my other pipes provided I smoke slowly and don't use moist tobacco.
Since moving to Prince George 20 years ago, I've only done the bass thing once on a return visit to Victoria. As you said, too many trout up here to keep my mind of bass. But the salmon fishing was better in Victoria, of course.Bass, thumbs down, lol. I’m from Ontario bass are everywhere, but if I lived in BC, it would be trout and salmon all day, I guess you like what you cant have.
Just came back from Algonquin Park and caught a nice 2lb brook trout. After I netted it and brought it pretty far on shore I decided to take a pic in the net and before I could, it still had life left, spit the hook and jumped about 15 feet down moss covered granite shelves into the water and swam off, bummer, but incredibly sight to witness.
As for gurgling, some pipes do more than others. I have a new Sav that gurgles a lot, same tobacco same moisture in other pipes doesn’t. I don’t enjoy gurgling, but put up with it,,,
Yeah, I think this pipe mud thing will fix the gurgling. The charcoal at the bottom did . . . . it was a kind of pipe mud. Fixed it totally . . . . so I'll keep working on incorporating charcoal into the pipe mud . . . . other guys have found this out too, so I'll try their online recipes. Cheers.
I agree with @bassbug
Make some pipe mud, fill the gap, and pipe on.
I have several pipes ive been smoking for years with a pipe mud bottom.
Cigar or cigarette ash and a few drops of water. Pipe ash had too much debris to use in my experience.
Mix, slather and let dry. It will last for years.
Make some pipe mud, fill the gap, and pipe on.
I have several pipes ive been smoking for years with a pipe mud bottom.
Cigar or cigarette ash and a few drops of water. Pipe ash had too much debris to use in my experience.
Mix, slather and let dry. It will last for years.
We have plenty of trout in Ontario and I still go to a dry fly whenever possible. A fish rising to a surface fly/lure still thrills me after 30 years. Where are you in Ontario?Bass, thumbs down
Toronto, oh yes there’s decent trout here, but nothing like British Columbia, you have to work a lot harder for less fish, unless maybe Great Lakes steelhead or lake trout, or northern ON.
I’m more after back lakes trout for a meal.
Yeah, Id still like to try meer chips. Can you tell me where to get them? The charcoal worked fine for me . . . but confess to not having the best taste buds in the world. I'm now trying to incorporate charcoal and cigar ash into a pipe mud. Reports I've read say it works. I'm an experimenter, and really enjoy making mudpies.
Relax Gourd , it looks like your taking a bit of a beating.
And the rest of you.....hoaky smoke. "Just learn to smoke the pipe right"
Some loads are better than others , and some just require more futzing.
Some have a fresh pipe for each bowl, and others can't be bothered.
I'd make two points. Firstly, drying tobacco is good advice to begin with, but as @sardonicus87 said you definitely don't need to with good technique. In fact, I think some tobaccos really lose a lot of character if you dry them too much.
Secondly, on 'slow smoking' - it's a real misnomer! We should say 'gentle smoking'. Just let the smoke drift into your mouth without really drawing on the pipe at all. It's much less about how often you puff.
But do what works for you, and experimenting and practice can only be a good thing. There's a danger of overthinking pipe smoking, but you can't get to the stage of doing it without thinking without practicing and smoking a lot. I have a lot of pipes drilled in very different ways and I don't usually have a problem with any of them.
Secondly, on 'slow smoking' - it's a real misnomer! We should say 'gentle smoking'. Just let the smoke drift into your mouth without really drawing on the pipe at all. It's much less about how often you puff.
But do what works for you, and experimenting and practice can only be a good thing. There's a danger of overthinking pipe smoking, but you can't get to the stage of doing it without thinking without practicing and smoking a lot. I have a lot of pipes drilled in very different ways and I don't usually have a problem with any of them.
@gord I don’t know where in canada but the ones I use are packaged by Elephant.
If you cant find them its easy to make your own substitute. Take a broken red clay garden pot. Wack the shards with a hammer until they are small pieces. Then put them in a colander and rinse off the dust. A few in the bottom of the bowl works great. Unlike charcol it doesnt off gas. Im pretty sure the charcoal is not good for you. Its definitely not good for flavor.
If you cant find them its easy to make your own substitute. Take a broken red clay garden pot. Wack the shards with a hammer until they are small pieces. Then put them in a colander and rinse off the dust. A few in the bottom of the bowl works great. Unlike charcol it doesnt off gas. Im pretty sure the charcoal is not good for you. Its definitely not good for flavor.
Tamp towards the draught-hole. Problem solved.
It really is that simple, and was figured out long, long ago. I do that with my Petersons and at the end of each smoke, I'm left with ash and a few bits of tobacco...and, yes, the draught-holes are comically high.
Give it a try.
No one seems to have mentioned this problem is also caused by badly made and/or poorly drilled pipes. In the time I've smoked a pipe I've learned to just cast aside pipes that misbehave in this way. No room for sentimentality, nor any time to 'fix' problem children. I want to enjoy every bowl full as if it were my last, any pipe that isn't co-operating is shown the front door. A pipe gets a maximum of ten bowls, if after that time it's gurgling, or tastes bitter, or won't stay lit, or whatever else, it gets tossed aside. To be honest this is why I rarely buy new pipes now, I have my select four or five pipes that behave perfectly, so that's that.
Ha ha, the extremes some will go to, to offset bad smoking habits. There was a time when men had to rely on developing tool control to do things. You had to develop shifting skills to drive a car, but guys wouldn't take the time to learn, so they developed automatic transmissions. Now, all cars have them.
To frame a house you had to learn to drive a nail with merely two strikes of a hammer. Now, a whole industry has built up around nail guns.
You had to know DOS commands to do anything on a computer, now the damned things come with operating systems and now AI.
You had to know brush control to paint a room, now you buy a prolifera of pads for edging and getting into corners.
Everything that took a modicum of tool control, now you can a gadget.
:::sigh:::
Well, I am glad that you can enjoy your pipes, but I would urge others to try smoking slower. Just chugging along with a bunch of stuff in your pipe is not going to give you any of the benefits of smoking a pipe. At best, it just helps you better keep using your pipe as an affectation. But, that may be all some want.
To frame a house you had to learn to drive a nail with merely two strikes of a hammer. Now, a whole industry has built up around nail guns.
You had to know DOS commands to do anything on a computer, now the damned things come with operating systems and now AI.
You had to know brush control to paint a room, now you buy a prolifera of pads for edging and getting into corners.
Everything that took a modicum of tool control, now you can a gadget.
:::sigh:::
Well, I am glad that you can enjoy your pipes, but I would urge others to try smoking slower. Just chugging along with a bunch of stuff in your pipe is not going to give you any of the benefits of smoking a pipe. At best, it just helps you better keep using your pipe as an affectation. But, that may be all some want.
I drilled a hole through the bottom of the bowl then installed one of those spring loaded brass spit valves like trombones have over the hole. Then when it gurgles, I seal the bowl top with my thumb, open the valve and blow through the stem. 
I use the meers for getting a taste I like better at the bottom of the bowl. My only pipe that gets stopped up is one with the draft hole in the center rather than the typical placement. The Meers or broken pottery addresses that also. I dont smoke much fine ribon cut and I think that helps prevent the problem.