Rub and Tug

[BigCasino]

I have started rubbing out everything, don't care what the cut is, even if it is a ribbon cut it seems to make the tobacco softer and easier to stuff into my pipes and I seem to get a more even burn the whole way to the bottom.

I was just wondering if anyone else does this?

 

[petertschantz]

I haven't ever thought to try that one BC, though it is an interesting thought...

 

[LIPIPE]

Rub and Tug.....Sounds like smokin' and strokin' ..... Perhaps a thread best suited for the Rubber Room

 

[jefe1037]

keep your punches above the belt gentlemen.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Rub and Tug.....Sounds like smokin' and strokin' ..... Perhaps a thread best suited for the Rubber Room

:lol!:
Wasn't there an actual thread in the Rubber Room about this? :lol:
It's been a while, but I think this has been 'touched' on before. :mrgreen:

 

[kaiser83]

I can't say that I do it with my ribbon cut tobacco, but everything else gets rubbed out. Heck Embarcadero gets rubbed down a bit more than it is originally before I smoke it.

 

[Anonymous]

Nay.

Both Embarcadero & Union Square get smoked "as is" -- the big clumps gathered into a bunch with the appropriate diameter (to allow for expansion during smoking), inserted partway (maybe 60-70%) in (the bottom of the bowl wants to be empty to allow the moisture that accumulates there to dissipate) , the top trimmed even with scissors, and off I go.

It's toward the bottom of a tin, when the fat strips are used up where it gets tricky & careful (to duplicate the above using scraps & ends). (And the wider the chamber, the trickier it is. I loves me some pipes with 20 mm. i.d. chambers, but 18s are SO much easier !).

FVF's too difficult. That gets a square cut off the end of a flake & abused into a brillo pad (inserted as above) that serves as a platform to keep the cubes suspended up off the bottom. A little more prep time's involved, but there's so much less hassle & fiddling with it.

Works for me, anyway.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Being a fanboy of 'Barc and 'Square like Yakster, I have to say I leave them pretty much intact. I will rough up some of the denser pieces (hey, they happen), but the flakes so broken up anyway anything more (especially with the VA Peaseweeds) tends to separate the very delicate strips of leaves and they stick to everything...had them block up airways and choke off combustion somethin' fierce a few times, and if you pack too-rubbed-out "thin leaf" like that, it's burns like a brushfire. They get left alone--taste better, too.

Other stuff? It depends. A lot of the ropes and plugs that are really dense I rub out almost all of the way. Granted, I learned this increases the nicotine uptake, but the flavor...oh goodness, the flavor...it's awesome. It goes away quickly if let to dry even for a few minutes, so there's something special in the dense layers of certain tobacco that gets cut, rubbed quickly and thoroughly, and smoked so as not to lose them.

Ribbon? Why bother? :lol: If you look at certain tree bark, it's generally lightweight because of all the airspace between the fibers. If you "fluff it up" even more, it's asking to burn hotter, which is why stripped and teased bark is used as a firestarter--it'll catch a spark pretty quick. Ribbon-cut is a blender's way of taking the rub out of a tobacco.

...but...whatever works for whomever.

 

[monbla256]

I can't say I "rub-out" my ribbon cut 'bac, do completely rub-out my flakes and plugs. Was how I was taught/learned and has worked for me, the pipes I smoke and how I smoke. There really is no one way, as everyone has their OPINION. :twisted:

 

[BigCasino]

I think it works for me cause I have a tendency to pack a little tight, I have a couple different ropes that I need to try a different method for, so far I have tried rubbing them out, and also cutting them into cubes, maybe I need to try the brillo pad method yakk spoke of,
Thanks for the input fellas

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I remember a year ago packing and figuring that bit out was one of my least favorite learning curves at Pipe University. It was like Tobacco Theoretical Algebra, where there was a right answer, and you knew what it was, but you had to fill in the gaps. Quite literally. Being a cheap bastard, I hated having to eject a hot, sopping-wet mass of tobacco that I failed to get quite right. Eventually simplification and replication of "ah-ha!" moments skipped me to Advanced Enjoyment classes.

8)

 

[somedumbjerk]

i mainly rub, but leave some good chunks in the middle of the bowl. i'm too lazy to cube cut really. i've tried it with some plugs with limited success and i feel the broken flake thing works fine with me so i'm sticking to it for now. fully rubbed out on the bottom and top, bigger chunks in the middle. i do notice the flavor difference in the middle, but it simplifies the packing and lighting for me with the little rub and tug parfait. :lol:

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Interesting to read the tips on Embarcadero and US. Thanks for those.

I had my first fling with Princess Barc last night and it went really well until slightly past the half way point where the flavor took a turn towards the bitter end of the spectrum. Strangely the bitterness faded after 5 minutes or so, but it had me wondering if I should have left the flakes intact, and if I should have dried them out a bit longer. All in all, the tobacco burned cool and was well behaved.

 

[Slide]

I don't rub out ribbons.

I rarely rub out flakes. Sometimes I will cube cutthem

I followed Yak's advise with Embarcadero from pipe one.

Embarcadero is probably in my top 3 blends.

No probably about it. It's in there....

 

[Anonymous]

I had my first fling with Princess Barc last night and it went really well until slightly past the half way point where the flavor took a turn towards the bitter end of the spectrum. Strangely the bitterness faded after 5 minutes or so

Izmir can get like that. Exactly how/why I can't tell you, but it can.

Beautiful women have their moods.

:face:

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Izmir can get like that. Exactly how/why I can't tell you, but it can.

Beautiful women have their moods.

:face:

I looked back on my notes for Guilford Courthouse and saw that I had written bitter a few times. Interesting as it also contains Izmir and is packaged by C&D. I'll liked GC, but I like Embarcadero better.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

[
Beautiful women have their moods.

...and how. Waiting for the weather to warm back up a little before I ask her to head out bikini-clad to the pool. There's a tin of fading Union Square for sample at the Tinder Box. I know it's been open for more months than are good for it, so I'm at least trying to give the tin a dignified end as it decrescendos. Good thing they don't mind me using up their open tins. :lol:

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Come on now Kyle, mooching off the local Tinder Box. :x

Need me to send you another bag of Smoker's Pride? :lol:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

If you knew how many times I get the deer-in-the-headlights stare directed at me from some of the new workers there, especially when someone throws them a curve-ball question about pipes, I've earned a few digs through their sample bin. :mrgreen: I'd be working there if it weren't for my business, and I don't want to flake out on a place I like because I have to go out into the wilderness for a week. I'm even on-call when they make tobacco tin orders at times, because they aren't always up on what's new or good. I accept my consulting fee of a few bowls, and the shop's better for it. Sort of. I still hang out there much to their chagrin. :lol:

8)

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Just messin with ya, buddy. It's good that they have someone that can answer questions for them and recommend blends to stock. Places like that are few and far between these days.