Show me your dottle

[Draagha]

When I'm done smoking, it's ash and a few strands of baccy at the bottom that won't light anymore. As soon as I finish my first bowl of the day I'll post a picture for ya 8) 

I think it's preference though and type of baccy that changes where the end is. When I smoke aro's I have a lot more at the bottom when I decide it's "done" due to the extra goop.

 

[pepesdad1]

Myself i have only seen the pure white ash that was left with pretty much an empty bowl with one kind of tobacco (Sunday Afternoon Pipe) and when it was all gone i tried to buy more and it was no longer available from my local B&M. When they did come out with a replacement it was alright but not the same. But i don't have near as much experience as most of the brothers here with different types of tobacco's. Myself i don't really care what's left or what it looks like, when it starts to taste like **** it's time to quit. Some get to the bottom some don't ehh.

 Exactly,  I find the Va.'s  burn cleaner and leave a white ash in the bottom...but again, you are smoking for the fun of it...not to see how little dottle you can have.

So..don't sweat the small stuff.

JMO

 

[Kyle Weiss]

..don't sweat the small stuff.

What??? Heresy!

:mrgreen:

8)

 

[RDPipes]

  you are smoking for the fun of it...not to see how little dottle you can have.

Oh Man! Now I've gotta change the whole way I do it now.

 

[huffelpuff]

It also depends on the pipe too. My MM Radio pipe used to leave gobs of unsmoked dottle in the bottom because the draft hole was a good 1/4 inch above the bottom of the bowl. I mixed up pipe mud and filled it in to just below the draft hole and now it's usually just a few strands of chared leaves and a lot of dark grey ash. Can do pic if needed but I personally think if it's become bitter or otherwise unenjoyable dump it. If you don't enjoy it what's the point.

Jim

 

[monbla256]

PuffDaddy just posted about an aro that isn't the norm.

I don't smoke aros, almost never anyow. Why? Because they usually taste of hot air or they bite or they're wet and goopy.

I stand behind that statement!  

The whole dottle/clean white ash thing is nonsense anyhow. It matters not. Smoke until you're finished smoking. If you're done before it's gone, so what, dump it. If it's gone and you weren't done, smoke some more until you've had enough. Some tobaccos will actually burn cleanly to the bottom and leave next to nothing but ash, but I don't think that means a darned thing about how good a pipe smoker you are, how good your pipe or tobacco is, or anything else of importance.

THIS 100% :twisted:  :twisted: 

 

[Fr_Tom]

For the record, I have now emptied my ash tray.

 

[Brewdude]

For the record, I have now emptied my ash tray.

I was wondering when you'd get around to that!

:lol: 


Cheers,

RR

 

[Dutch]

Some folks feel that not smoking the entire bowl can leave a greasy buildup in the bottom of your pipe, however I dislike tying to smoke 100% of the dottle, simply because there is so much moisture held in that tobacco. As was mentioned, the tobacco in the bottom of the bowl acts as a filter or sorts, just as the last 2 inches of a cigar does. Also, the dottle is usually holding quite a bit of moisture from the tobacco burned above it, and has the potential to give some nasty tongue bite, depending on the blend.

As for the potential for a nasty buildup in the briar, that is why a periodic thorough cleaning using Kosher salt and spirits is so beneficial. I have even used Kosher salt and spirits in some of my meerschaum lined briars, because that thin meer lining can only hold so much tobacco juice. Once the meerschaum becomes saturated, the baccy juice has nowhere to go.

It's pretty easy to tell when you hit the point of diminishing returns, once you get some pipe smoking experience under your belt.

 

[gravel]

I smoke until I'm done. I've occasionally made an ash of myself, when I don't I sometime DGT for the next day, or dump it.

*DGT - Delayed Gratification Technique. This sometimes will accentuate flavors. An aro will always taste like the back side of a Rhesus Monkey when DGT. (Don't ask me how I know. I was young and foolish and needed the monkey.)

In short, I recommend reading War and Peace (Tolstoy). Its a good book.

 

[Briarbabe]

I smoke until I'm done. I've occasionally made an ash of myself, when I don't I sometime DGT for the next day, or dump it.

*DGT - Delayed Gratification Technique. This sometimes will accentuate flavors. An aro will always taste like the back side of a Rhesus Monkey when DGT. (Don't ask me how I know. I was young and foolish and needed the monkey.)

In short, I recommend reading War and Peace (Tolstoy). Its a good book.

I'm dying here! You are killing me. For the record, I prefer Anna Karenina.

 

[mejoshee]

It think it really depends what you smoke, Virgina's, Vapers tend to burn quicker and hotter so you'll have more ash less dottle were as Burley and such burn cooler you might have more dottle less ash specially if it's been gurgling it'll be good and wet at the bottom with either type of tobacco. Of course this depends on the smoker too. I like to make sure all is ash before giving up on a bowl. It's the poor-man/cheap-stake in me.
I've never been able to smoke a burley to the bottom though because of my chemistry, in other words Burley burns the skin off my tongue so we don't even go there anymore.  

Some folks feel that not smoking the entire bowl can leave a greasy buildup in the bottom of your pipe, however I dislike tying to smoke 100% of the dottle, simply because there is so much moisture held in that tobacco. As was mentioned, the tobacco in the bottom of the bowl acts as a filter or sorts, just as the last 2 inches of a cigar does. Also, the dottle is usually holding quite a bit of moisture from the tobacco burned above it, and has the potential to give some nasty tongue bite, depending on the blend.

^^This. Don't feel obligated to smoke the entire thing. I think you got that point already. At the very least, you should probably wait until you've built cake before following Kyle's advice.

Aros will usually leave you with a lot of dottle; there is little satisfaction huffing at the end there, so just dump it. I thought it was necessary to smoke that part too when I first started and there was just one too many bitten moments before I learned to just throw in the towel. No one will judge you being wasteful. (Now some will judge you as you may already have picked up on for smoking aros in the first place, but I will not further fuel that conflict.)

Sometimes when you get down to the bottom you'll notice the draw changes and/or you start tasting not-tobacco (the briar). That's probably way past stopping, but YMMV. Sometimes I go "over the cliff" too, though mostly when I'm not paying attention or I've left the bowl and came back not thinking I had smoked it as far down as I had. Nic hits you there... :drunken: Ultimately it's your prerogative. I guess you can just try it and see what happens and decide from there.

 

[mejoshee]

Not sure if this picture is helpful, but this was 1 flake of FVF I had tonight. No dottle to speak of 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Elitism over aros is fun for us [insert your blend] smokers isn't it!

I got to thinking back.  Like many, I first started smoking a pipe with an aro in it.  It was a black as black vanilla that looks a lot like the PS pictured one.  I don't remember it as that wet a smoke and I oversmoked pipes and didn't embrace any "sophisticated" drying techniques.  Hell, I relied on a tobacco shop for all info and they tend not to argue when greenbacks fly.  I guess I knew which end of the match to strike and they always gave you boxes of matches back then.

The stuff packed well.  I never need to pick things after the airway filled like occasionally now.  It was an easy smoke.  My tongue didn't ignite. And, damned but I could smoke a pipe anywhere without many nasty look.  

So maybe aros are bad or is it that those knocking them lack the technique to smoke properly?  ROFL

 

[RDPipes]

Ouch! I smoke the way I smoke and it has worked fine so far for me and have smoked a Aro or two when beginning. I didn't get a whole lot of bite but, it did bite. I did enjoy them to a certain extent until I found non aro's that wouldn't bite (cutting burley from my diet was one). But, I find they sure dirty a pipe up quicker then anything else I've ever smoked. Now that's not saying I've smoked many tobaccos, just in my limited experience.

 

[whitepony1986]

i don't smoke mine to the bottom when it starts to taste nasty i put it out so i end up with a little bit unburned....only once have i ever gotten "the perfect smoke" with the white ash and no relights.....odly it was the first bowl smoked through my savinelli

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

 As was mentioned, cigars...they aren't often smoked until one can smell burning lip-flesh.   Unless you're me.  I stab a stogie on a toothpick like a rube and keep going.

You're killing me man. My good friend smokes his cigars so far down that by the end he looks like Tommy Chong. I told him to bring a roach clip with him the next time he comes over.

Personally, I usually smoke enough of a cigar to warrant removal of the band, but once it starts getting hot I am done. Of course my buddy was absolutely appalled by this. :lol:

As with pipes, for me there will be dottle. Not a lot but it's there. Usually charred bits and mottled ash with a few tiny flecks of moist unburned matter. I try not to sweat it though.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Then again, I usually remove the band of a cigar before I even light it.  Makes it easier later, and the uppity snobs that "label watch" just think I'm smoking some cheap turd and forgo the smalltalk about cigars.  Which, admittedly, cigars are not my forté--I'm just enjoying my stogie, tip to toothpick.  :mrgreen:

Probably also why I leave my "nice" pipes at home and just bring a cob with me to the B&Ms.  

Dottle is there to do with what you choose.  Some people see it as kind of filter, catching all the stuff they don't want, and so, they dump it.   Others see it as supercharged 'baccy.   :twisted: 

only once have i ever gotten "the perfect smoke" with the white ash and no relights.....

...and the myth of what makes "the perfect smoke" continues... :sigh:

8)

 

[monbla256]

As far as cigars go, I only now smoke two brands when I do and only buy a box of 25 Partagas Carona Senior from Havanna which I get every year  from a Venazualen friend that brings in a box for me every year when he comes to visit his family in Dallas. The other are El Gloria Cubana Gloria's which I buy a few at a time at the  local Cigar shop here in town. I only smoke 'em to about the last 1" or so and that's usually all I need. Ten years ago I almost chain smoked Cigars but now I have one mainly in the winter and usually only one to two a week at most. I now prefer my pipes and Va's  dottle and all :twisted:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

I used to not smoke to the bottom of the bowl because the heat of relights at that point. But now I smoke to the bottom. Don't know why I changed.