NJsmokey
You will find that each pipe is different and will want to be smoked differently.
With that being said. Everyone has there own method of packing a pipe.
Here is mine: A pinch of tobacco in the bottom, lightly pack it down. This is the cushion that all the rest of the tobacco will rest on and is a resevoir for fluids. This bottom layer should generate no resistance to the draw. Try it, and verify that you can feel no resistance to the draw. Then, another larger pinch of tobacco and lightly tamp it down. This layer should give you just a little resistance to the draw. Try it and adjust the pack as needed. Repeat as required to fill your pipe. When you get to the top of the bowl, the last pinch should be just under the top. Check the draw. Adjust the pack, again, as needed to get just a little resistance to the draw. Now light the tobacco, get an even burn on top. you can bolw on the top and see the burn, just like a cigar. Tamp lightly, relight as required and tamp again, relight as required. Sit back and enjoy!!
Gentle puffs, sip the smoke, savor the monment, relax, taste the nuances in the tobacco. Watch the eddys of smoke and enjoy. As always, the best things are better shared.
If you get a gurgle, run a pipe cleaner down the stem and remove the fluids. That stuff tastes horrible. Remember the resevoir? If necessary tamp and relight as needed.
There are contests to see how long a pipe can be smoked without relighting but, that is a whole 'nother thread. So don't worry about how long a bowl will last. If it goes out, relight it. If you'r down to dottle, clean it out and have anothor bowl.
I wil smoke the same pipe three or four times a day. When I am done for the day, I clean the bowl out, run a pipe cleaner down the shank and wipe the outside of the pipe with a soft cloth and set my old friend back in the rack to rest for at least three days.
Any tips on how to pack a bowl is also appreciated, I know there will be a learning curve, but the more info the better.
Be careful what you ask for, you may get it.
DaninDayton
ilurkalot