As I continue to suffer the pains of noobyness, I'm sure Dai and perhaps even our Master da'Rum would agree that tongue bite/burn is the one thing that many pipe smokers - some even experienced - do suffer. Less enjoyment, some are even driven away from the hobby, or go nuts trying to find biteless blends.
As da'Rum pointed out in another post, overdrawing is quite the problem, and especially so with a cob pipe. I'd never thought about it, but cobs have a more than easy draw - the draught hole is quite open and he's right - it is very easy to "overdraw", and - bite! Ouch.
He was not alone in that learning to "sip" - though frequently mentioned and advised - is really not that easy to achieve. We think we are "sipping", but we are not. There are a few confounding factors, of which one important one is the unconscious attempt or goal to minimize relighting. That's a natural tendency. There's another one two, and that's when we sense the light is fading, so we - again unconsciously - draw a little harder, or try a light tamp. Another is to quickly re-light, and perhaps too agressively. There's a tendency too to draw too often, too fast. All of these are bite-producing. There's the thought too that sipping is not that enjoyable, that you need more smoke to enjoy it.
All of these factors are carousing around your mind, and in the end - you are not really sipping.
Bottom line: true and effective sipping (which will minimize bite) is NOT that easy.
Now I'll only speak for moi, but somehow - and this after weeks of frustration - finally caught on. Yes, part of this is (modestly) drying tobacco. Another is to simply not worry at all - not a bit - about relights, period. The light is fading? A light tamp, maybe, but NO attempt - none - to keep it going. A simply "so what!" attitude.
This along with a clench, and "breathing" kind of approach, along with a few classic sips (bringing the stem to the mounth as if were indeed a straw), and no attempt to produce big puffs or clouds of smoke. Just patient little sips, no hurry, no concern for re-lights. One old timer put it nicely:
"Tobacco tastes bests if you can just let it smoulder, not burn".
An interesting thought. This all happened when at long last I once again packed my MM Pride cob with da'Rum's recommended MacB's Navy Flake - fold twice, roll lightly and pack. I'd quit this tobacco before for one reason - it bit me every time. But not this time, and by truly sipping - yes, with an infrequent "puff" - it was finally enjoyable and all the positives heaped upon it by d... made themselves known.
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From Pipaedia...
"Dad’s Original Advice on Cobs
After 53 years, I still use my dad's way of doing things. I don't fool with a false/charring light, but simply light it and start smoking.
- Dry your tobacco more than you think you need to.
Pack it looser than you think you need to.
Smoke it slower than you think you need to.
Tamp it less, and more lightly, than you think you need to. Clean your pipes after every smoke, using pipe spirits of some sort.
Don’t worry if you have a few relights.
And realize that becoming an accomplished pipe smoker will take time, patience, and trial and error.
To those, I’ll add a great tip I read on a forum several years ago, offered by DLT, or Nightcapper, dealing with the use of a tamper to help keep a pipe going. While I don’t tamp very often, I do place my tamper on top of the ash in my pipe bowl if the ember seems to be cooling. The weight of the metal tamper used while puffing will help revive a pipe that could be going out."
