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"You've taken the first step into a larger world"
O. W. Kenobi
Star Wars
"So, you're saying that the pipe-smokers version of 'Think outside the box' would be 'Smoke outside the pipe??!'"
Overheard at a recent NYPC meeting
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A helpful image:
imagine a cork about one half to three quarters of an inch high and a quarter of an inch larger in diameter than the inside of your bowl. If you wanted to get the cork to fit inside your bowl, you'd push the sides of the cork towards each other (to the center) to make it fit into the bowl, not just push straight down.
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Alternate holding the tobacco with one thumb while the other thumb rolls the tobacco toward the center. Soon, the tobacco will not need to be held in place by the thumb directly on top. Now, with light pressure from both thumbs as shown below (always avoiding the tips of the thumbs), continue to roll the tobacco towards the center. Herr Kropp uses the word massage.
You roll your thumb from the outside of the bowl towards the inside (refer to the picture) with the emphasis on pushing the tobacco to the center, not down.
Do NOT press tobacco directly into the bowl. The motion is a rolling one that massages and directs the tobacco slowly and gently toward the center. If it feels a bit strange, that's good: this is very different than what we're used to.
Alternatively use the right and then the left thumb pad as you rotate the pipe in a circular motion to equally distribute the tobacco. This will result in the tobacco sliding down the sides of the bowl until the pipe is filled.
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