New Pipe Smoker With A Question? Ask an Old Fart

[Sr Mike]

Originally Posted by tedrodgerscpa

I have a question for an old fart...

What's the best way to prep flake tobacco for smoking?

Not sure that 'flake' is the best way to describe it, but I'm talking about something that looks like this...



disclaimer: picture ruthlessly stolen from the internet

I do O.K. with the "Cake" style, but these big ol' flakes confuse me a bit!

There are a few different ways to work with flake tobacco. From my experience, folding flake over on itself and then filling the bowl is easy to start out with, but it can be a bit difficult to light or keep lit. So to aid the start, I will take a bit of extra flake and rub it between my palm and first two fingers until the flake is broken up and shag looking. Setting this shag on the top of the bowl, it lights up easily and gets the flake burning nicely. I have found that smoking flake folded over on itself will burn for a much longer duration than a bowl of loose tobacco. Tamping will be a bit different as the flake really does not tamp like loose tobacco and pack, gentle tamping at first so not to put out the ember, practice is the best way to learn with flake.

Another method it to rub the flake in the palm so it is more ribbon like, or if you really want to get a lot into the bowl, the flake can be rubbed into all shag and packed into the bowl like loose tobacco. Rubbed out flake used by a lot of new smokers, this will give the new flake smoker an idea of how flake tobacco feels when tamped without getting over zealous and put out the ember. The first time I smoked flake I remember thinking the tobacco was not packing down and just crunching.

IMHO, I personally like flake to be folded on itself for smoking rather than rubbed out. I have found that just taking the time to learn to smoke flake in this manner makes the flake far more enjoyable. I tend too think that companies nowadays layer tobacco to be smoked folded over, this gives the smoker the taste of all the layered tobacco at the same time. I could be wrong as flake was originally used as a way to store tobacco.

I have read that one can cut up the flake into smaller pieces, with a knife or scissors, and fill the bowl with what was cut. I have not tried this method so I cannot accurately give any advice with this method.

Try both methods, you may notice a difference between the two methods with one tin of flake. Also, remember that flake tobacco can have more moisture than loose tobacco, so a flake from a new tin will most likely need to be allowed to dry before smoking.