SMOKING & CARE GUIDE
The following procedure for packing and lighting your pipe is extremely important for your utmost smoking pleasure.
1. Unless your new pipe is pre-charred, rub a drop of water in the pipe bowl. While it is still moist, gradually put the tobacco in pinch by pinch paying attention to the first pinch by placing it completely at the bottom of the bowl. It should be firm but springy to the touch.
2. Next, draw lightly on the mouth piece. There should be little or no resistance. If there is resistance, spoon out the tobacco and begin again.
3. Take plenty of time in lighting your pipe. You should draw the flame in a circular motion over the entire bowl. Once the entire surface is burning, lightly tamp the tobacco with a tamper, as it will expand from the first lighting. Then relight making sure the tobacco is well lit all around the edges.
4. Relax while smoking your pipe. Draw lightly and slowly. Heavy rapid puffing will only cause your pipe to over heat and burn your mouth. After smoking, allow the pipe to cool. You should not refill the pipe while it is hot.
5. Continue breaking in your pipe by smoking ten half-filled bowls of tobacco. A thin carbon coating will start to form in the bowl. The “carbon cake” is desirable as a protection for the briar and improves your smoking pleasure.
6. You should not allow the carbon to build up to exceed one-sixteenth of an inch. Too thick a carbon crust heats and expands faster than the briar to which it is attached. This will cause extreme pressure on the walls of the pipe and under the strain, the bowl will eventually crack.
7. As you are smoking, tamp the embers down. This will help keep the tobacco lit and result in a cooler smoke.
8. Tongue bit and a hot mouth are only caused by heat. Relax and smoke slowly.
CARE FOR YOUR PIPE
Proper and constant care of your pipe will result in a sweet-smoking pipe and increase the life of your pipe.
1. You should run a pipe cleaner through the stem after each time you smoke your pipe. When not in use, place your pipe bowl down in a rack. The gravity will draw the moisture to the bowl where the air will circulate and dry it out thoroughly.
2. Rotation among your pipes is essential. It is best not to smoke the same pipe more than a day. Extensive use will cause the pipe to taste and smell badly. Rotate seven pipes during the week.
3. You should not leave any unburned tobacco or ashes in your pipe after smoking. Remove the remains with a pipe tool rather than knocking your pipe against anything. You run the risk of snapping your stem and possibly breaking the shank of the pipe if you knock the pipe against anything. Stems are not guaranteed against breakage of any kind, but can be repaired for you by our expert repairman.
4. You should not use a sharp knife or instrument to scrape the inside of the bowl.
5. You should not remove the stem while it is warm. Heat expands the tenon of the stem and removal while warm can easily break the stem and possibly crack the shank. After the pipe is cooled put your hand on the stem and the shank and with your other hand rotate the bowl until it is removed from the stem.
6. You should not smoke your pipe in a high wind or open car, as the direct draft can cause a burn out.
