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Post by bonanzadriver on Jan 20, 2022 10:03:06 GMT -5
I know there are folks out in the online piping forums and communities that profess to regularly achieving the Fine White Ash with each and every bowl they smoke. Even here, in the last month or so, someone stated such a thing on one of our threads. Being an avid and regular pipe smoker myself, that comment here caused me to achieve a fine white ash that spewed from the bowl of my pipe and all over my keyboard.  Suffice it to say, that I very rarely accomplish this, and have come to consider it a bit of a Unicorn experience. But, I have to admit that it does happen from time to time..... Like, this morning for instance, with my first bowl ! Which blend, you may ask? What was the moisture content? From which pipe? Were you inside or outside? Was your cadence different? Did you use a match, Old Boy or a Bic? How many re-lights? All I can tell you is that it was a first morning bowl like any other, Dunhill EMP (so it is a bit of an older tin), on the drier side of moisture content, in a nice size 4 Brooks Bent Billiard. As is the case with 90 sumthin % of my smokes, it was up in my home office / mancave. Started off with a match, and a couple of re-lights with a Bic and the normal tamp here and there. What does all of this have to do with anything, you may ask? Absolutely Nothing ! It simply caught me by surprise and caused me to stop what i was doing, reflect, with a smile, and comment here. Cheers |
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Post by darktater on Jan 20, 2022 10:22:14 GMT -5
outstanding! I haven't achieved that feat yet myself, though I have a a bowl or two that didn't require a relight.
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Post by sperrytops on Jan 20, 2022 11:29:18 GMT -5
Easier with drier tobaccos, I think. For me I get it regularly on the top half of the bowl but struggle to ever see it on the bottom half. Just too much moisture down there I guess.
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Zach
Pro Member
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First Name: Zach
Favorite Pipe: Too many currently, bound to change
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Post by Zach on Jan 20, 2022 11:46:38 GMT -5
I know there are folks out in the online piping forums and communities that profess to regularly achieving the Fine White Ash with each and every bowl they smoke. Even here, in the last month or so, someone stated such a thing on one of our threads. Being an avid and regular pipe smoker myself, that comment here caused me to achieve a fine white ash that spewed from the bowl of my pipe and all over my keyboard. Suffice it to say, that I very rarely accomplish this, and have come to consider it a bit of a Unicorn experience. But, I have to admit that it does happen from time to time..... Like, this morning for instance, with my first bowl ! Which blend, you may ask? What was the moisture content? From which pipe? Were you inside or outside? Was your cadence different? Did you use a match, Old Boy or a Bic? How many re-lights? All I can tell you is that it was a first morning bowl like any other, Dunhill EMP (so it is a bit of an older tin), on the drier side of moisture content, in a nice size 4 Brooks Bent Billiard. As is the case with 90 sumthin % of my smokes, it was up in my home office / mancave. Started off with a match, and a couple of re-lights with a Bic and the normal tamp here and there. What does all of this have to do with anything, you may ask? Absolutely Nothing ! It simply caught me by surprise and caused me to stop what i was doing, reflect, with a smile, and comment here. Cheers The real secret is very dry tobacco packed very tightly. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 20, 2022 11:48:14 GMT -5
I do often smoke a bowl completely, but I get a coarse, gray ash. I've never seen a fine white ash from a pipe.
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Zach
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If you can't send money, send tobacco.
Posts: 4,360
First Name: Zach
Favorite Pipe: Too many currently, bound to change
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Post by Zach on Jan 20, 2022 11:51:16 GMT -5
The descriptor of the color of the ash is totally meaningless. Ash is ash. It's ash, or it's tobacco and slurry. The premise is smoking slowly enough, with dry enough tobacco that you consume all of the tobacco to ash. While it's mythical to say anyone smokes each and every single bowl to pure ash there is also absolutely nothing magical about doing it and it's just down to smoking the whole bowl and not dumping the bottom dregs. Some guys will relight that bottom heel until its gone even if they relight the pipe 57 times.
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 20, 2022 11:57:35 GMT -5
The descriptor of the color of the ash is totally meaningless. Ash is ash. It's ash, or it's tobacco and slurry. The premise is smoking slowly enough, with dry enough tobacco that you consume all of the tobacco to ash. While it's mythical to say anyone smokes each and every single bowl to pure ash there is also absolutely nothing magical about doing it and it's just down to smoking the whole bowl and not dumping the bottom dregs. Some guys will relight that bottom heel until its gone even if they relight the pipe 57 times. That sounds right. |
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henry
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Post by henry on Jan 20, 2022 23:32:00 GMT -5
One of my non briars is a morta. It pretty consistently yields a fine dry ash result; morta can smoke a bit hot if you don't watch your cadence. But in the end it provides a superior tobacco experience. Maybe the best takeaway here is to expand beyond briar. Something that has really intrigued me for a while now is osage orange, but is hard to find and expensive (unless you have the skill set to make your own pipe).
Pipe maintenance may also be a fine ash factor. My practice--for what it's worth--is to leave the bowl and stem separated overnight after cleaning for optimal drying.
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Post by Legend Lover on Jan 21, 2022 10:25:11 GMT -5
Congratulations Dino.
It happens to me quite frequently with my cobs, but never with a briar pipe.
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Post by urbino on Jan 21, 2022 14:30:26 GMT -5
That's interesting, LL.
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chasingembers
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Post by chasingembers on Jan 22, 2022 12:06:51 GMT -5
I do often smoke a bowl completely, but I get a coarse, gray ash. I've never seen a fine white ash from a pipe. All I get is gray.   |
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Post by sperrytops on Jan 22, 2022 13:19:01 GMT -5
That looks like carbon scrapings, not ash.
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Zach
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If you can't send money, send tobacco.
Posts: 4,360
First Name: Zach
Favorite Pipe: Too many currently, bound to change
Favorite Tobacco: Haunted Bookshop, Big 'N' Burley, Pegasus, Habana Daydream, OJK, Rum Twist, FVF, Escudo, Orlik Golden Sliced, Kendal Flake, Ennerdale
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Post by Zach on Jan 22, 2022 13:26:03 GMT -5
My cob of Haunted Bookshop. There are some sparse few flecks of carbonized leaf remaining, which is what I often have with a burley cob. Gets to the point I can't relight and there's really nothing left but ash flavor at this point. Sometimes it's all ash.
This is now an ash dump thread.  |
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Post by trailboss on Jan 22, 2022 15:13:16 GMT -5
“I know there are folks out in the online piping forums and communities that profess to regularly achieving the Fine White Ash with each and every bowl they smoke.”
I agree Dino, I saw a few of them in the past on another forum, they tend to be the braggadocios sort, as they peg the BS meter.
Some tobaccos lend themselves well to smoking every last speck to ash, and as others have said, I think moisture content and packing play a role.
Some blends just don’t do it for me at the end of the bowl, some blends the second half seems to be better. It depends on the blend if I want to smoke it all the way to a fine white or crumbly gray.
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chasingembers
Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
First Name: Duane
Favorite Pipe: My Growing J. Everett Collection, Fifteen Day Bruce Weaver Set, Meerschaums, Oguz Simsek Skulls
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Post by chasingembers on Jan 22, 2022 16:33:46 GMT -5
That looks like carbon scrapings, not ash. All I can say is those photos are before I dumped the pipe and after. I don't allow carbon buildup in my meerschaums. Do you not tamp when you smoke? All I'm left with is gray dust and all of the reaming dust I've seen has been black. It could be where I twist the tamper as I'm using it.🤷♂️  |
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Post by daveinlax on Jan 22, 2022 17:11:00 GMT -5
I make an effort to smoke down to the bottom of every bowl. I’m a little disappointed if I dump out anything but ash. It helps that I’m smoking a very natural tobacco with very little PG so it not like burning a bowl of something sticky like Frog Morton to the bottom.  |
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Post by sperrytops on Jan 22, 2022 17:35:56 GMT -5
That looks like carbon scrapings, not ash. All I can say is those photos are before I dumped the pipe and after. I don't allow carbon buildup in my meerschaums. Do you not tamp when you smoke? All I'm left with is gray dust and all of the reaming dust I've seen has been black. It could be where I twist the tamper as I'm using it.🤷♂️ That's interesting. My ash is always white to grey no matter what tobacco I smoke. |
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chasingembers
Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
First Name: Duane
Favorite Pipe: My Growing J. Everett Collection, Fifteen Day Bruce Weaver Set, Meerschaums, Oguz Simsek Skulls
Favorite Tobacco: Black Frigate,Solani Silver Flake, Yenidje Highlander, Angler's Dream, Watch City Slices, Salty Dogs, Mephisto, Ennerdale Flake, Rich Dark Honeydew, 1792 Flake
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Post by chasingembers on Jan 22, 2022 17:50:33 GMT -5
All I can say is those photos are before I dumped the pipe and after. I don't allow carbon buildup in my meerschaums. Do you not tamp when you smoke? All I'm left with is gray dust and all of the reaming dust I've seen has been black. It could be where I twist the tamper as I'm using it.🤷♂️ That's interesting. My ash is always white to grey no matter what tobacco I smoke. I do pulverize the ash before dumping in case I've got anything sticking to the chamber. |
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Post by johnlawitzke on Jan 22, 2022 18:15:00 GMT -5
In my experience, both the fine-ness and color of the ash is related highly to the blend being smoked. Blends with Latakia tend more towards white or light gray. Blends with Burley tend more towards black. Then the ability to smoke to the bottom of the bowl directly relates to the moisture level.
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chasingembers
Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
First Name: Duane
Favorite Pipe: My Growing J. Everett Collection, Fifteen Day Bruce Weaver Set, Meerschaums, Oguz Simsek Skulls
Favorite Tobacco: Black Frigate,Solani Silver Flake, Yenidje Highlander, Angler's Dream, Watch City Slices, Salty Dogs, Mephisto, Ennerdale Flake, Rich Dark Honeydew, 1792 Flake
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Post by chasingembers on Jan 22, 2022 19:22:22 GMT -5
In my experience, both the fine-ness and color of the ash is related highly to the blend being smoked. Blends with Latakia tend more towards white or light gray. Blends with Burley tend more towards black. Then the ability to smoke to the bottom of the bowl directly relates to the moisture level. I mostly smoke Virginias and straight Orientals. I get that blue-gray ash. |
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Post by johnlawitzke on Jan 22, 2022 20:26:42 GMT -5
In my experience, both the fine-ness and color of the ash is related highly to the blend being smoked. Blends with Latakia tend more towards white or light gray. Blends with Burley tend more towards black. Then the ability to smoke to the bottom of the bowl directly relates to the moisture level. I mostly smoke Virginias and straight Orientals. I get that blue-gray ash. That’s the color I tend to get from Virginia blends. |
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Post by Goldbrick on Jan 23, 2022 10:30:27 GMT -5
In my experience, both the fine-ness and color of the ash is related highly to the blend being smoked. Blends with Latakia tend more towards white or light gray. Blends with Burley tend more towards black. Then the ability to smoke to the bottom of the bowl directly relates to the moisture level. This was my thought as well. Westminster will leave a feathery white ash, and Lancer's slices will have a lighter ash than Carter Hall or Bald Headed Teacher. as for burning every last bit of tobacco in the bowl, I'd have to say almost never, perhaps in a meer or cob, but only a handful of times in a briar, in all my years as a puffer. |
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Post by urbino on Jan 23, 2022 16:35:06 GMT -5
I can't say I ever examine the ash. I knock it out of the pipe and go in the house.
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Post by bonanzadriver on Jan 23, 2022 16:58:47 GMT -5
I can't say I ever examine the ash. I knock it out of the pipe and go in the house. Kinda my attitude as well. Obviously I started this thread somewhat tongue in cheek. If it happens, it happens. |
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brobs
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Post by brobs on Feb 1, 2022 11:51:11 GMT -5
That's interesting. My ash is always white to grey no matter what tobacco I smoke. I do pulverize the ash before dumping in case I've got anything sticking to the chamber. i was gonna say it’s just the blackened remnants mixed with light grey ash |
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Post by cigrmaster on Feb 1, 2022 12:43:06 GMT -5
My ash is so white you will want to snort that stuff up. I honestly never look at the ash I dump. I have never had the goal of smoking a bowl till it produces that white ash. Ash is ash and if any one says they are getting a better smoke because it is white, they are freaking dreaming.
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brobs
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Post by brobs on Feb 1, 2022 14:49:09 GMT -5
My ash is so white you will want to snort that stuff up. I honestly never look at the ash I dump. I have never had the goal of smoking a bowl till it produces that white ash. Ash is ash and if any one says they are getting a better smoke because it is white, they are freaking dreaming. My smokes are the best because my ash is beyond the pale |
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