Finally learned the secret...

[peter cornbriar]

Good Morning from sunny Pennsylvania Dutch Country

I have finally discovered what I have been doing that has caused me to throw my pipes to the floor in disgust and reach for a cigar: Fast and furious puffing as manifested by hot bowls and nasty off tastes, like stuffing dried sycamore leaves into my bowls and expecting wonders-madness.
Now I pack my pipes accordingly, and puff/toke my tobacco GENTLY. Rather have a bowl go out and have to re-light than racing my tobacco to the finish line. Even my Scotty Honey and chocolate, (Which I hated, not just because it's made by Sutliffe either), well, tastes like Honey and Chocolate. Eureka!
What a revelation! Just finished a bowl of C&D Irish Blessing and it smoked great.

Peter

 

[Tobacjoe]

Congrats. It’s always great to hear how others were able to break through that barrier. It took me years to figure it out. Even when I thought I had it down, I would still find myself in a rut, asking myself why I’m putting myself through this. I’ll get the bite a little bit now and then, still, but very mild. Honestly, ten years under my belt now, and if a friend of mine approached me and asked me if I could teach him to smoke a pipe, I would say sure, I can, but you still won’t get it and will be a lot of work ahead of you, but I’m a slow learner, so maybe not.

 

[Timbo]

Slow and steady wins the race, if it goes out, I'll just relight it.