Mark Twain and Technique

[momus]

Hey, everyone! Just out the blue a thought came to me...I think I read somewhere that Mark Twain would have a big bucket of tobacco...he would keep his pipe in it. Scoop the tobacco with one "fell" scoop into said corncob...and then smoke it. Sounds like he was using a modified Frank technique. Thus, this could change the date of this loading technique by around 120 years or so! :idea: Naw, I'm kidding. But does anyone remember this? I read it being associated with Twain's laziness. When I thought of it I decided to post it here because this board (and the DGT thread) looked lonely.

 

[Bigsmoke]

Have any of you ever tryed the air chamber Method? it is growing in popularity. It takes a little practice but the rewards are a cooler smoke and a better taste along with little tamping. First you need to get a ball of Tabacco squezzed together the best you can that would fill the chamber about half way. Next you need to push the Tabacco into the bowl while twisting it to the right, it should be fairly hard to push it in, this will insure that it doesn't fall to the bottom of the bowl. The object here is to have only the top half of the bowl filled leaving a air chamber at the bottom. The Tabacco will then have combustible air at the top and bottom and it will create a cooler better tasting smoke. When you light up , just tamp lightly once and it will burn evenly, at some point the Tabacoo will fall the bottom of the bowl where you will have to tamp again if there's anything left. Alot of the members of my club do this and really like it, once again it will take a little practice not to pack it to tight or loose. Give it a try, I think you will like it.

 

[Greenleaf]

Yes, I've read that story about Twain. Made me wonder what cut his tobacco was, although I seem to remember reading that it was finely cut up like tea or something.

 

[momus]

Greenleaf, I checked for the quote and found it:

"I was much impressed by the ingenuity with which Mark Twain fills his corn-cob pipe. The humorist is an inspired Idler. He is a lazy man, and likes to do things with the least trouble to himself. He smokes a granulated tobacco which he keeps in a long check bag made of silk and rubber. When he has finished smoking, he knocks the residue from the bowl of the pipe, takes out the stem, places it in his vest pocket, like a pencil or a stylographic pen, and throws the bowl into the bag containing the granulated tobacco. When he wishes to smoke again (this is usually five minutes later) he fishes out the bowl, which is now filled with tobacco, inserts the stern, and strikes a light."
(http://homepage.mac.com/ericmelby/Pipes/famous/twain.html)

So if the pipe tobacco is granulated that would explain why it was easy to fill the pipe with...I'm thinking of an almost sand like consistency.

 

[Greenleaf]

That really is an ingenious technique. Thanks, momus.

 

[Harlock999]

Have any of you ever tryed the air chamber Method? it is growing in popularity. It takes a little practice but the rewards are a cooler smoke and a better taste along with little tamping. First you need to get a ball of Tabacco squezzed together the best you can that would fill the chamber about half way. Next you need to push the Tabacco into the bowl while twisting it to the right, it should be fairly hard to push it in, this will insure that it doesn't fall to the bottom of the bowl. The object here is to have only the top half of the bowl filled leaving a air chamber at the bottom. The Tabacco will then have combustible air at the top and bottom and it will create a cooler better tasting smoke. When you light up , just tamp lightly once and it will burn evenly, at some point the Tabacoo will fall the bottom of the bowl where you will have to tamp again if there's anything left. Alot of the members of my club do this and really like it, once again it will take a little practice not to pack it to tight or loose. Give it a try, I think you will like it.

I do this in some larger Danish pipes with conical tobacco chambers, and it works well.

 

[Greenleaf]

Been thinking of Twain's technique, as I chain-smoke more or less and often from cobs. I smoke PA mostly and have a small pouch for tobacco only in addition to my usual black leather pipe/tobacco pouch. Got the idea to do what Twain does--drop my Diplomat in with the pouch after removing the stem, so this pipe fits in. Works, but takes some loading and packing. The advantage is being able to carry a smaller pouch and reload more efficiently, a pouch that can fit in the pants pocket rather than pretty much only my breast pocket. This system should help with working in the summer, as I can't wear my Dickies jacket in that heat.

 

[williamcharles]

I can't find the info now but somewhere I read that Samuel Clemons (Twain) smoked Bull Durham. That was a "chop" cut tobacco. A cube cut burley is also called a "granulated" tobacco.