If you have been smoking a pipe for some time now, you’ve probably mastered all of the basic techniques, such as packing your bowl, tamping it down mid-smoke, and keeping it lit without overheating the pipe. With these techniques under your belt, you should be able to enjoy smoking a wide variety of tobacco pipes and tobacco blends but is there more enjoyment to be had? Are there some more sophisticated techniques that will help you to get more from your pipe smoking in the future? According to many veteran pipe smokers, the answer to both of these questions is yes and in this guide, we're going to examine five advanced techniques that you can use to increase the pleasure you derive from smoking a pipe.

Five Advanced Techniques You Can Use with All Types of Tobacco Pipes

Some of these techniques may be more to your liking than others but they are all worth trying if you are keen to take your pipe smoking skills to the next level.

Breath Smoking

This is probably the most difficult technique to describe but it has the potential to significantly improve your pipe smoking experience so it's worth persevering with, even if you don't quite understand it at first. Breath smoking involves inhaling and exhaling through your nose, whilst continuing to draw steadily but very gently on your pipe. Once you have mastered the technique, you will find it easier to smoke tobacco blends that previously either burned too hot or were impossible to keep alight. With breath smoking, you can find a happy medium with these blends so they neither burn too hot nor keep going out. Some people find that the easiest way to start with this technique is to slowly move their tongue back in their mouth while breathing normally through the nose but it may be necessary to experiment a little before you hit on a method that works perfectly for you.

Retrohaling

Retrohaling is another technique that may require some experimentation before you can master it. It involves drawing smoke into your mouth and then expelling it through your nose, without actually inhaling it into your lungs. Many cigar smokers and cigarette smokers master this technique almost accidentally, as they experiment with their basic smoking technique over the years. However, with a little focused attention, it shouldn't take you longer than a day or two to get it down pat. The reason it is such a popular technique is that it can really help to bring out the flavor in more complex and subtly-flavored tobacco blends. If you tend to smoke very strong blends with a high nicotine content and simple flavor profile, you may not enjoy this technique but it’s still worth trying just in case you do.

Finger Tamping

If you are like most pipe smokers, you have probably acquired quite a selection of tobacco pipe accessories over the years. One of the first of these will almost certainly have been a tamper, which you use to tamp the tobacco down as you smoke your way through a bowl of your favorite blend. While tampers are very useful tools, they don’t provide much feedback so it is very easy to over-tamp the tobacco, causing it to go out. By using your finger instead, you will be able to judge the degree of tamping force you are using more accurately, thereby avoiding the need to keep relighting your pipe. You should, of course, wait until a decent layer of ash has accumulated on top of the tobacco before you try finger-tamping. If not, you run the risk of accidentally burning your fingertips on hot embers.

Delayed Gratification

This is a very easy technique to learn and you may already have accidentally discovered it already. But most pipe smokers still consider it as an advanced technique as it isn’t something you would think of doing on purpose when you first start to smoke a pipe. All you need to do in order to try the delayed gratification technique is light your pipe as normal, take a few puffs then put it to one side for a while. The exact length of time you leave it is up to you: you can try 20 minutes to start with, and then progressively longer until you achieve the desired result. The whole point of the delayed gratification technique is to give the tobacco some time to caramelize or stew in its own juices (tobacco releases quite a lot of moisture when burned, as you probably already know). Many pipe smokers find that the flavor profile of most tobacco blends will change significantly when using this technique but whether you enjoy these changes is something you will only be able to determine through experimentation!

Stacking or Layering Different Tobacco Blends

If you have tried all the available tobacco blends in your part of the world, accumulated a large collection of tobacco pipes, and bought all the tobacco pipe accessories you need, you might be looking for something new to spice up your pipe smoking experience. Tobacco stacking is an excellent choice if this is the case. This technique is generally practiced with 3 different tobacco blends, layered one on top of another in the bowl.

If you are still looking to expand your pipe collection, we invite you to check out our extensive range of retail and wholesale tobacco pipes, which you can order from our online store.