Simply leave it on a clean surface for a few minutes and see if it improves the lighting process. If it’s still too moist afterwards, leave it out a little longer until you find the right humidity.

Unless you’ve never smoked before, you’ve likely experienced this and know only too while how infuriating it is for a pipe to extinguish between every puff. Now that you have read how to light it, you can use our other guide to learn how to properly smoke a pipe. While most soft flame, including disposable, lighters will function perfectly well, the right one can drastically change your lighting and smoking experiences. If you’ve read any of our detailed cigar resources, then you’ll know that we’re quite fond of torch lighters for their simplicity and ease of use. However, torch lighters aren’t recommended here as the intense omni-directional flame is not only inconvenient but can damage your pipe.For instance, some pipe lighters feature angled or extended nozzles for easily reaching into a bowl. Meanwhile, others have wider flames to facilitate the process. There are many ways for lighting a tobacco pipe just as there are for loading one. This guide to lighting a tobacco pipe follows on from our loading method and consists of two to three steps: If you use your fingers for tamping, you may have to wait longer so not to burn them. In our loading guide, we recommended purchasing a pipe tool rather than your fingers partly because of this. Furthermore, if you have a new pipe, we recommend that you begin by breaking it in. Breaking in a new pipe consists of insulating the bowl with a uniform layer of cake, which is essentially carbonised tobacco deposit. Nevertheless, like cigars, you should avoid oil-fuelled lighters due to the flame’s odour, which can taint the tobacco’s flavour.

As the tobacco begins to ignite, slowly increase the depth of your puffs to draw the flame towards the base of the bulb. When you get a comfortable amount of smoke, you can remove the flame and your pipe is lit. When ready, reapply the flame to the tobacco with the same circular motion. You can bring the flame a little closer if you prefer while taking shallow puffs on the pipe. This may be caused by very moist pipe tobacco. Some tobacco blends can be too moist for smoking straight away. In this case, we recommend taking a bowl-full of tobacco out of the tin or pouch a short while before you smoke. If you prefer to use a lighter, make sure that it is fuelled by butane, which is an odourless gas and preserves the tobacco. Yet, if you have a preference for matches, avoid cardboard match books as these are made with chemicals that can leave a bad taste. Don’t puff too deeply as the objective is not to ignite all the tobacco but to heat it up instead. By charring first, you remove any excess moisture from the tobacco and even out its density of the bulb’s interior.

Sometimes you feel that you’ve exposed enough flame to the bowl that it could have incinerated the whole pipe. However, the charred tobacco only releases a light smoke. As you char the surface, you’ll notice that bulb may expand while some tobacco unravels out of it. Not only is this normal but desired as it will actually improve the draw and combustion. By breaking in your pipe, the cake will insulate the wood and prevent it from burning out. This is achieved by only smoking quarter-full bowls at first and increasing the amount of tobacco over time while allowing the pipe to cool between each session. Known as the false light, begin by applying your flame to the tobacco and moving it in circular motions over the entire surface of the bulb. Meanwhile, take a few short puffs on the pipe. While lighting a pipe seems like a relatively simple task, it can take a while to perfect the technique or even develop one that works for you. Even if you follow our guide to the letter, you may experience a few issues when lighting until it becomes a natural process. The Tobacco Just Won’t Light