Pipe smokers...

[prophet]

Should there be water in the bottom of the bowl after smoking? I seem to always have a little puddle, about enough to cover the bottom of the bowl. I have been trying to keep my mouth drier as I smoke, but I still wind up with juice.

[MasonM]

It's normal for there to be some moisture. It's coming out of the tobacco itself. If there seems to be quite a lot of it try letting the tobacco dry on a paper towel before loading it in the bowl.

Also, a lot of moisture may indicate that you're smoking it too hot, meaning too fast. You should be just sipping it. Taking your time will likely make a big difference as well as improve the flavor of the smoke.

Be sure to clean the pipe after each smoke (once it cools of course). Just run a pipe cleaner through it to remove the excess moisture.

[TimmyBoston]

How often do you have to puff a pipe to keep it going? I tend to find once or twice a minute will keep a cigar going. But I'm very, very new to pipe smoking and I puff on them pretty much constantly, just to keep it going, but I'm not sure if I need to be that aggressive.

[ouch]

I would gues that you're puffing too fast and too hard. It takes a while to learn the proper pace, which is quite slow. Try smoking English blends, which tend to smoke much drier. If you're using drugstore blends or Captain Black, well...........not much will help.

[kozulich]

I would gues that you're puffing too fast and too hard. It takes a while to learn the proper pace, which is quite slow. Try smoking English blends, which tend to smoke much drier. If you're using drugstore blends or Captain Black, well...........not much will help.
Yeah, aromatics have a lot more moisture, and that wet glop at the bottom of the pipe is pretty normal. Be careful, if you ever accidentally "slurp" some of that through the stem, you'll wish you hadn't! English blends do smoke a lot drier, but, of course the trade off is that the aroma is less palatable to non-smokers, so the significant other or roommate is much more likely to object to the pipe. I should add that it is difficult to smoke an entire bowl of aromatic tobacco without having to relight at least once or twice. This is normal. With great skill and experience it can be done, but there is no shame in retamping and lighting back up. In fact, I enjoy the opportunity to put the pipe down and take a break as the bowl cools off. Then when I relight the smoke is cooler again. The goal is smoke as cool as possible - that means slower. If you smoke fast, it will be hot, and you will experience "tongue bite", or in the case of a peterson, "palate bite". Far better to slow down, and relight as necessary.