Rub Out the Flakes?

[Slow Triathlete]

1)"rubbing out" means to rub the flakes so that they fall apart into smaller strands of tobacco. This is usually done by placing the flake in the palm of your hand and then rubbing the other palm of your hand in a circular motioin until the tobacco falls apart.

2)After you rub out the flake, it should be similar to the other. Pack them both the same. Not too tight.

3)What are you using to light your pipe? If you are using a "torch" lighter like the ones used for cigars then the burnt wood that you are tasting is actually the corn cob buring. Torch lighters are too hot and will burn the **** out of your pipe. Use wooden kitchen matches or a soft flame lighter like a Zippo.

[Mister Moo]

There are many textures of flake tobacco; some rub out easily into ribbon-ish pieces (MacBarens Navy Flake, a flat, thin-cut fragile flake, for example) and some are more self-adhesive and hold together better (Escudo, a round flake, for example). The two names mentioned above are virginia tobaks.

Stonehaven, a burley-content flake comes in very long, flat pieces. It is almost leathery in appearance. Like the others mentioned, Stonehaven can be folded and stuffed or rubbed out more-or-less for a good smoke.

Another flake cut tobacco is generically referred to as crumble-cake (like the trademarked "Krumble Kake". It is similar in texture and flavor to the very popular Penzance.) These products will break into crumb-like pieces with the slightest effort. KK and Pes are both intense latakia based smokes. I think you love it or you hate it.

Every smoker has his own preference on how to smoke a flake. With time and experience you may decide that some flakes taste better rubbed out and other taste better folded, screwed and stuffed into a bowl. Like most tobacco you fill a pipe with, flakes expand as they are heated. Be careful not to to fill a pipe tightly, especially with a flake. If you do, it'll swell up and plug the bowl in a few minutes. Similarly, avoid tamping a flake down to the point you feel much draw resistance or a plugged pipe will not be far behind.

As a novice I found flake tobacco a little discouraging but, over time, grew to enjoy it.

MacBarens has a good page on flake "how-to" that you benefit from reading. http://www.mac-baren.com/TopMenu/Exp...ll-a-pipe.aspx

And last but not least, which flake did you buy?

[schnell987]

Gents,
Thanks for the very helpful information (and thanks for that link, Dan).

To answer your questions, I had read the posts here so was warned about using a torch flame in a pipe. So I used matches and an Old Boy. And you can ban me now, because the flake I carefully chose was a MacBaren Virginia flake. I went into the local B&M with a list of tobaccos that I wanted to try, based on the posts I've read here. Well, they didn't stock any of the ones on my list. When I saw the name MacBaren, I was happy to find a name that I recognized! I didn't realize 'till later Why I recognized the name. Maybe it was just my inexperienced packing style, but I now know what tongue bite is. Note to self: Carbonated beverages (e.g. beer) does NOT relieve tongue bite! Yow!

Well, on to try the very cherry mix from the B&M.

Kevin

[alfredo_buscatti]

I've been smoking flake for some time, and over time my packing method has changed.

I started by rubbing out flake. Then I tore off chunks about 1/4" X 3/8" and gravity dropped them into the bowl. But I kept reading that others simply folded a flake into 3 parts, assuming a 3" to 4" long flake, and stuffed that folded flake into the bowl, with tinder on top. When I tried this I found that it was hard to light and hard to keep lit, but it did burn very slowly, which was what I sought.

I asked for advice and was told that I needed to "worry" the flake before inserting it into the bowl; that is to rub out the folded flake, but just to the point of loosening the strands. This is easy with fragile flakes like GH Dark Flake but quite a bit more time-consuming with dense flakes such as Irish Flake. The key, at least for my hands, is to worry about an 8th" piece of Irish Flake at a time.

This last method retains the slow burn while normalizing relights.

You stuff the worried flake into the bowl vertically so that ends of the flake strands stand up in the bowl. Having done so, often tinder isn't needed, and relights are facilitated.

[cp478]

Originally Posted by schnell987

Gents,
Thanks for the very helpful information (and thanks for that link, Dan).

To answer your questions, I had read the posts here so was warned about using a torch flame in a pipe. So I used matches and an Old Boy. And you can ban me now, because the flake I carefully chose was a MacBaren Virginia flake. I went into the local B&M with a list of tobaccos that I wanted to try, based on the posts I've read here. Well, they didn't stock any of the ones on my list. When I saw the name MacBaren, I was happy to find a name that I recognized! I didn't realize 'till later Why I recognized the name. Maybe it was just my inexperienced packing style, but I now know what tongue bite is. Note to self: Carbonated beverages (e.g. beer) does NOT relieve tongue bite! Yow!

Well, on to try the very cherry mix from the B&M.

Kevin

maybe I am warped but I enjoy the sting of the tongue bite!

[Emjaysmash]

Originally Posted by cp478

maybe I am warped but I enjoy the sting of the tongue bite!