| Author | Message | ||
     Duke January Member Username: Duke Post Number: 49 Registered: 05-2008 |
Occasionally, we’ll read of DGT and of specific tobaccos transformed by this bowl-stoving process. Is this alchemical transformation just a load of malarkey, when in fact, it is nothing more than tobacco minus the blender’s humidification? I’m neither a chemist nor a sorcerer, so I guess the most sudden physical change from DGT is the near complete loss of the tobacco’s moisture content. Moisture at the right temperature creates steam, which is only good for pressing clothing, food preparation and historically driving industry. When I smoke Virginian blends I find I like the tobacco quite dry to better taste the subtleties of this variety. Smoking tobacco this dry requires a very slow and guarded smoking cadence. OK, there maybe some caramelizing of existing sugars within the leaf, but not to the mythological extent as is often suggested. I’d like to see a real raring debate on this subject. | ||
| Gabriel Houghton Member Username: Gabriel Post Number: 5 Registered: 04-2009 |
Pardon my ignorance, Duke, but what does DGT stand for? | ||
| Todd Bannard Member Username: Sasquatch Post Number: 681 Registered: 05-2006 |
DGT or Delayed Gratification Technique usually involves partially smoking a bowl and then leaving it. As far as I can tell, it amounts to drying your tobacco more thoroughly than usual, which is how I smoke anyway. It is said to work best with virginias - delayed relights on some aromatics are certainly unpleasant. | ||
| Tom Mueller Member Username: Tommueller Post Number: 194 Registered: 04-2008 |
DGT = Delayed Gratification technique. I use the term 'rests well' for blends that are especially favorable to DGT. If DGT were simply a matter of drying the tobacco before smoking, charring - or partially smoking a bowl - would have no additional affect on the taste. in my limited experience, that is not the case. Dried beforehand or out of the tin, I find some blends especially conducive to "good DGT". These include Balkan Sobranie, Davidoff Flake Medallions, and IMO best of all, HH Vintage Syrian and McClelland Black Shag. One blend that does not take to DGT for me is CH. "DGTd" Interlude in a Pete | ||
| Harvey Click Member Username: Fafhrd Post Number: 1475 Registered: 03-2006 |
It is nothing more than tobacco minus the blender’s humidification. Some people claim the tobacco "stoves" while the pipe is sitting, but of course the tobacco stoves only while it's lit, not while it's sitting neglected. I often let a half-smoked bowl sit for a few hours or even overnight, and it tastes just fine when I fire it up again, but no magic has occurred. | ||
| Duke January Member Username: Duke Post Number: 50 Registered: 05-2008 |
Mr. Houghton, Forgive any highbrow tone, it wasn’t my intention. DGT stands for Delayed Gratification Technique, found in many threads on this site and is widely discussed amongst our crowd. It is the notion that tobacco burning in the pipe's chamber is further stoved than what’s done prior at the factory. Stoving is a curing process that by heating a tobacco it starts altering the leaf's sugars into simpler sugars, resulting in a darker, fuller and naturally sweeter smoke. Virginian tobaccos, most notably but not exclusively, are associated with the favorable effects of stoving. DGT, instead, occurs in one's pipe. A bowl of tobacco is partially smoked then allowed to sit for a period of time, like hours or a day. It is suggested that the heat of combustion is further sweetening and darkening second half of the bowl's smoke. I've smoked pipes most of my adult life, and often relighting my pipe hours after setting it aside results in a sublime smoke. More broadly, I also have found that drier tobacco gives me the most satisfactory smoke. I’m not talking Egyptian Tomb dry, but dry. Yes, you have to smoke slowly or the smoke can taste harsh. But, if I smoke a tobacco too moist, it results in a steamy hot smoke seldom enjoyed. I think DGT's most significant aspect is it dehumidifies the remaining chambered tobacco. There is no unwanted steam to affect the taste by poaching your mouth and tongue. All of the accolades for DGT in this forum and elsewhere have I ever heard mentioned the need for re-humidifying the chambered tobacco, yet I’ve read many smokers suggesting the need to rehydrate their dry tobaccos. What is your thought? | ||
| Jay Blakey Member Username: Firebottles Post Number: 38 Registered: 03-2008 |
I say the "Delayed Gratification Technique" is not malarkey.. as evidenced by my experience with Robert McConnells Scottish Cake in particular. part of a tin I set aside, the other part I soaked whiskey. Anyway, the tobacco I set aside became rather dry.. drier than I usually smoke. Boredom/curiosity with my current collection led me to light up a bowl of this dry Scottish Cake. It had mellowed a bit.. but I experienced the same shifting of flavour as I had with the fresh tin. So as you see.. even with a greater loss of moisture the tobacco still shifted it's flavour throught the bowl as usual. I experience a similar shifting with my fairly dry Davidoff Scottish Mixture.. though not nearly as dramatic. | ||
| SydPiper Member Username: Sydpiper Post Number: 62 Registered: 10-2008 |
I find no extra satisfaction in DGT. I have experimented with multiple tobaccos and pipes regarding this. I get the same reaction if I dry the tobacco much more than I ususally do before loading a bowl, or packing a bowl and leaving it on the stand for a couple of days before lighting. Most of the time I found it dried the tobacco to much and I got a harsh smoke. Everyones taste is different and may work for many, for me it doesnt. | ||
| Gabriel Houghton Member Username: Gabriel Post Number: 6 Registered: 04-2009 |
Mr. January, Your tone was just fine, thanks for the information. I notice DGT most with Full Virginia Flake. A slight toasting brings out some sweetness and fullness. In my experience, this only goes so far; smoking as much as half a bowl and leaving it till morning doesn't commend itself to my palate particularly. Any pre-charring benefits are lost, perhaps because there is no comparatively "fresh" tobacco below the fire line. | ||
| Jay Blakey Member Username: Firebottles Post Number: 40 Registered: 03-2008 |
I want to add that MORE than a few hours of rest is NOT going to help the tobacco. Extremes.. like next day.. certainly don't work.. in my experience. | ||
| Duke January Member Username: Duke Post Number: 51 Registered: 05-2008 |
Today, I loaded an old Comoy with a stout full flavored Virginian for my short morning commute. I could very well have driven by the office to finish the bowl, but instead I parked the car and pipe. I know that I’ll smoke that pipe again at noon and early eve. Call it DGT, I’ll call it smoking my pipe. Thanks for your views. | ||
| Dan Bryant Member Username: Bryantm3 Post Number: 65 Registered: 03-2009 |
I have to say that this DGT stuff does not work for me. Maybe it's because I have a small bowled pipe, or maybe it's because I just don't like the taste. Either way, the tobacco is affected by this technique to create a worse taste. On relighting, the smoke is dry and foul tasting, and after about 3-4 minutes of smoking I usually give up and dump it out. I've tried this with McClelland Red Cake, Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake, Prince Albert, and a couple of others such as 2015, and I've never gotten a good taste after using this technique. | ||
| Brian Silverman Member Username: Laufenstoc Post Number: 3 Registered: 06-2009 |
I have tried this "DGT" technique on a handful of occasions and have convinced myself that it's not for me. Of course, this is different from relighting a bowl that happens to go out while smoking. If I put a partially smoked bowl aside and come back to it hours later, it is IMHO, vastly inferior. It is not that the tobacco has been dried, since I generally dry out tobacco significantly before I fill a bowl. My unscientific sense of it is that a partially smoked bowl has the unsmoked tobacco marinating in the biproducts of combustion, bitter juices, etc., that detracts and alters the taste in objectionable ways. But you know, to take a twist on the old saying, "different smokes for differnt folks." | ||
| Duke January Member Username: Duke Post Number: 56 Registered: 05-2008 |
To narrow my thought, Virginians and Vapers, for me, taste just dandy regardless of the number of pauses and relights. All other blends aren't as satisfactory. I just like the deepening flavor. | ||
| LEROY KINGMAN Member Username: Oldguy Post Number: 80 Registered: 11-2007 |
I'd have to side with Dan Bryant; it usually doesn't work for me. The notable exception, as others have mentioned elsewhere is Penzance. It doesn't seem to taste any better for sitting half-smoked for a few hours or even overnight, but it doesn't taste any worse either. Every time I've tried it with another tobacco, it just tasted nasty after a relight. |