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I've only smoked 2 tobaccos (1 aromatic, 1 not), just a few quirky questions.
I've scoured the web on "beginners' how to," I've got the packing and lighting down pat (mostly) and smoking style is coming along nicely.
However, 3 things still irk me.
1) tongue bite. No matter how fast, how slow, how hard or how easy I smoke tongue bite happens 90% of the time with my briar or corn cob either one. That could be a need to find the balance on my part, but sometimes it comes with the lighting of the pipe (which I take very girly puffs to light)
2) the tobacco usually burns only the center of the chamber completely leaving doddle on the walls, but hardly any in the bottom. I scraped the walls today removing a LOT of tar/residue, and that did seem to help tremendously. Just wondering if this is normal
3) Gurgle. It comes almost as regularly as tongue bite in my briar. I believe my pipe was laquered heavily, could that be an issue? Again, could be my fault, but I'm unsure of how to prevent it.

Sounds like the tobacco.

There are certain blends I cannot smoke no matter how careful I am due to tongue bite. Primarily Virginias and blends that carry a lot of Virginias.

Your gurgling may indicate a very wet tobacco - which is common with aromatics that are treated with propylene glycol to keep them moist. Not even La Nina could dry them out.

Also, the poor burning also seems to indicate tobacco treated with PG. This is a trademark flaw of that tobacco in my experience. What are the names of the tobaccos you're smoking?

Gurgle is probably also related to crappy internals.

To Kurt;
I'm glad to hear that opinion, I was beginning to think I was just messing up that bad (which I'm sure I'm partially at fault here) the name of the aromatic I'm unsure of, a friend brought it over this weekend well after I'd gotten into some Peach flavored "home brew," all I know is it was Rum flavored and mixed quite well with alcohol The non-aromatic is just called "Largo pipe tobacco," (regular) made by Republic tobacco, or Top? the fine print is obscure. I do plan to visit a more "pipe oriented" shop this weekend where hopefully I can expand my selection. Now if I can just find some more good "home brew"
To Simeon;
Yes, it has less than admirable internals, which I hope to "doctor" on in the near future

Can someone please describe 'tongue bite'? I had a tin of Mac Baren Honey and Chocolate that, every time I smoked it, without fail, no matter how delicately I puffed, would instantly coat my entire mouth with an 'I just licked an ashtray' flavor. It wasn't painful or numbing, just gross and ashy. I tried smoking from the tin probably 10 or more times over the course of about a year and it never changed. Other than that experience I've never had anything happen to me or my tongue resembling the oft-reviewed 'tongue bite'. I typically smoke straight VAs, often from the supposedly notorious 'tongue bite' providers like Mcclelland and Mac Baren. I'm just curious about the sensation and wondering if I've experienced a mild form of it at some time and just didn't notice. On the other note, my pipes almost always end up gurgling; I usually need at least 1 pipe cleaner during a smoke cuz I'm just a slobbery wet smoker I guess. USUALLY. If I'm sitting on the porch like a useless lump and actually just enjoying the smoking experience then I can get away with a dry smoke sometimes, but normally I'm doing some kind of work on the house or the wilds I call a yard and clamping a pipe in my jaw.

BeatusLiebowitz wrote:Can someone please describe 'tongue bite'? ...

Search youtube for pipesmoking videos and those mad puffers will prove tongue bite is not an issue for all smokers. I've also seen someone puff like a steam engine with no harm whatsoever to the tongue. I always think it'd be lucky to be one of them. Congrats. However, for me tongue bite is the modus vivendi of pipesmoking. Sometimes it's there, sometimes gone, not necessarily explainable by types of tobacco, pipes used, etc. and it can't be controlled, although It seems to be related to frequency of smoke and most importantly mood. Somehow I thinks it's one of the magics of pipesmoking. I'd get bored with this hobby if the pleasure of cool and flavorful smoke could be enjoyed as easily as a cone of ice cream.

Tongue bite, to me, is akin to gulping on tea or coffee that's too damn hot. It feels exactly like a burn, and takes a few days to go away. It only happens with straight VA or heavy VA blends, particularly VA flakes. It can also happen with Burley - the main tobacco in a lot of aromatic blends.

My opinion, such as it is, is that it's a body chemistry thing. People describe a natural sweetness that Virginias and Burley have, but I have never experienced that from either. To me it just tastes like burning.

On the other hand, I am a chile-head, and love spicy food of all kinds, and can tell you with pretty good certainty what chiles are in a given dish - Habaneros have an entirely different flavor than the Caribbean Red, for instance. Tongue bite feels nothing like spicy food. To me anyway.

To Beatus;
tongue bite (in my experience at least) gives a sort of raw feeling to the tongue. The feeeling in and of itself isn't pleasant, but not like the most horrid taste in the world either. When it kicks into overdrive is taking a drink afterwards/during a smoke, especially something heavily carbonated. It will sometimes leave the "ashtray" taste.
I may completely off in calling this tongue bite, but I couldn't think of anthing else it could be called. In short, it burns, it sucks.
Hope this helps:)

Kurt, you hit a pretty dead on definition.
I was unaware that it lasts a couple of days, that may be part of the reason this seems to be occuring so often it may just be hanging around.
I gave consideration to the tobacco being too wet last night and let some air dry for my last smoke of the night... not the desired result. It burned much hotter, and when I woke up today it still hadn't gone away.
I usually give the pinch test (which is still sometimes vague) but I found a dry smoke is much worse, lol.

It probably boils down to a handful of reasons that can all contribute. Chemistry, moisture, garbage internals, smoking style, and which constellation Mars is currently traversing can all have have contribute.

All I know is that I never suffer when smoking Balkan blends, and other blends heavy on Latakia and orientals. If I smoke Virginias, I only smoke flakes that are very, very dark.

You might be smoking too fast. Back in the early sixties, I tried to smoke pipes as a sub for cigarettes which I was trying to quit. The problem was that I smoked the pipe just like I smoked cigarettes, fast, deep draws and continuous puffing. I had tongue bite so bad I could hardly stand to brush my teeth in the mornings. After trying for about a year, I gave it up because of the tongue pain and went back to cigs. A few years later I managed to kick the cig habit. In the nineties I picked up a pipe again but this time I smoked it like a pipe, very slow, small puffs, no inhaling. I've since rarely had tongue bite. A medium size bowl, 3/4" by 1 1/2" will last me on average about an hour and a half.

I suggest you force yourself to smoke as slow as possible. Not only will most of the tongue bite stop but so will most of the gurgling.
Another suggestion, try to stay away from the aromatics, most of them, especially the ones with lots of sugar and flavoring usually cause tongue bite. bob gilbert

I believe tongue-bite is caused by steam in the smoke or by a super hot dry smoke, so it is literally a burn on the tongue. My theory is that it is caused by:

overly moist tobacco
overly dry tobacco
overly doctored tobacco
tobacco packed too tightly
tobacco packed too loosely
tobacco packed (partially) blocking airway
tobacco puffed too quickly (hot)
a pipe with bad internals, causing moisture build up = steam
a pipe with bad internals, causing a restricted draw

"Bright" tobacco types with minimal processing/fermentation/aging are more prone to tongue-bite... not sure of the chemistry there, but secondary fermentation (pressing, stoving, steaming, serious aging) seems to mellow the bite characteristics of Virginias. Slow puffing is mandatory to subdue the bite of brights.

KurtHuhn wrote:It probably boils down to a handful of reasons that can all contribute. Chemistry, moisture, garbage internals, smoking style, and which constellation Mars is currently traversing can all have have contribute.

All I know is that I never suffer when smoking Balkan blends, and other blends heavy on Latakia and orientals. If I smoke Virginias, I only smoke flakes that are very, very dark.

Aha, that's it! Damn Mars, I've heard that if it doesn't get it's act together it's looking at the same fate as "the rock formerly known as Pluto". I hope it catches a meteorite directly in the face.

Alright, thanks gents. Nope, I've definitely not experienced it yet. The hot coffee analogy alongside a lot of tobacco reviewers' short descriptions really gives me a good picture of what it's like.

Kurt; I'm a fanatical devotee of hot/spicy foods as well, but I loves me some VA's because of that natural sweetness. I'm tending to think it's a body chemistry thing as well.

I was thinking along the chemistry lines of how Beatus mentions the sweettness of VA's where others only taste "blach"
In our chemistry class we did a "taste test," everybody a strip with some chemical on it, was told to taste it and report what it tasted like. There were reports of sour, bitter, sweet or bland. The same chemical was given to everyone.
Dr. Mann went into some 45 minute lecture about tastes and whatnot, can't really remember what the chemical or the basis of that test was though.

Dixie_piper wrote:can't really remember what the chemical or the basis of that test was though.

...but Dr. Mann was escorted off the property under guard shortly thereafter.

Nah, if he didn't get escorted off for giving us the chemicals to make the equivalent of mustard gas and have that whole wing of the school evacuated, I'm sure they let that one slide
Ah, good times good times...

ahh tongue bite. and gurgling. while i feel that the other posts on this are sufficient, it wouldn't be a proper forum if you were flooded with the same answers over and over lol

basically my smoking time has led me to this : virginia is best smoked slow. pipes tobacco that is too wet will gurgle, as well a cheap or poorly designed pipe. and of course, almost invariably, you will find many brands and blends that you DO NOT like before you find the one, and this journey is best enjoyed and savored rather than rushed.

that being said stay away from drugstore brands when looking for the "one". many of them are good for an easy day smoke, but fail to satisfy in the flavor dept. if thats all thats available to you, smoke it if you got it, but start looking for a good internet retailer.

if it's a virginia heavy blend, it's most likely going to give you tongue bite. this feeling ranges from a sting on your tongue, to an intense feeling of heartburn just to the back of your throat. captain black in the white pack gets me every time. however dont write off virginia blends yet. as you become more familiar with pipe mechanics and the slow, savory smoke, you will come to appreciate the spunk that virginia has, like looking at a tiger in a cage, dont get too friendly, or obviously you will get bit, but carefully observe and you will be rewarded with a memorable experience.

as for gurgle. check the internals, do what you can, and then remember the basics. use tobacco at the right moisture level (seems you may need to go dryer) and keep the pipe clean. after doing those things, if it still gurgles, just remember that we are not masters of the universe and somethings are beyond our control, then stop thinking about it and enjoy your smoke, silly.

hope that helps.


also, never EVER, E-V-E-R rush pipe time. never. this is on par with drinking hot flat beer. it will do the job, but you will not enjoy it.

Alas, twas the tobacco. I got some "Red Cap blend no. 7" today as well as 2oz of Petersen's "Nougat Supreme"
I've smoked probably 4-5 bowls of the red cap (switching to my corn cob while the briar rests) and loved it. No bite, no gurgle and 10X better taste and hardly any re-lights needed.
The Petersen's was good, not quite enough kick for myself. Hopefully that will change once I kick cigarettes all together. Already down to 3 packs a week whereas last month it was a carton a week.
Still smoking the "lower end" tobaccos, but a vast improvement either way. Can't wait to try the better ones!

Keep trying new tobaccos! There are new ones almost weekly, and you're bound to find something you can't live without. Personally I'm a huge fan of anything close to shag cut and heavy on Latakia, but will smoke flakes and cakes all day long as well.