Ash in my mouth...

[Commander Quan]

No that's certainly not normal, and especially impressive since you are using a filter. Try to keep the bigger pieces toward the bottom of the pipe, meaning use the crumbs and small bits for tinder on the top. Did you just tamp, or did you stir the ash around any? The only time I get sold material in my mouth from the pipe is when I've been poking around too much with the pick park of the tamper and disturbed the bottom layer of tobacco.