A question for the pipe smokers: what do you do with the unburned tobacco (dottle) left over when you’ve finished smoking your pipe?

I’ve been throwing it out along with the ash, but then I came across this quote from one of the Sherlock Holmes books:

“Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times, and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the plugs and dottels left from his smokes of the day before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantel-piece.”

If Holmes wasn’t ashamed to save up his dottles and smoke them the next day, perhaps I should start doing the same ^_*.

Do any of you guys do this?

probably not. You realize how nasty that would be? I think the reuse of the dottle serves double duty as a character portrait. First what a freak this Sherlock is, second it deomonstrates how tobacco is not an act of enjoying the pleasure or quality of the smoke but of purely a love of the vitamin N.

Several of the pipe references in the Sherlock Holmes stories were meant to indicate that Holmes, particularly in the early stories, was living in not-so-genteel poverty.  First of all, he smoked black shag, which was the cheapest pipe tobacco available at the time.  Reusing the dottle (which is a somewhat revolting idea) was another such reference.

Later on, after Watson moves out and gets married, Holmes observes that Watson’s medical practice must be faring well, because Watson is smoking a blend called Arcadia.

Yeah it’s like if he drank pruno (prision fruit salad toliet wine) doesn’t mean you should try it.

Yes, I too believe that this description was to reference Holmes’ financial state more than anything else. Quite a disgusting idea esp. to us modern lovers of the leaf.

I press the dottle in each pipeful and relight and burn it. When I dump the pipe it is just ash. Then again, I am as frugal (read cheap) as Holmes.

I always had the impression that Holmes smoked the dottles not so much for reasons of economy as for their strength. They were (I think I’m right in saying) his morning smoke, and his personality certainly suggests the need of something extremely bracing to get him functioning. He also injected various things let’s not forget.

@PnSnS my memory is that Holmes observed that Watson continues to smoke the Arcadia, which he (Watson) smoked in his bachelor days. (I should check this I know, but I can’t remember which story it was. But I think I’m right.)

I confess too that I smoke as much of a bowl as can possibly be managed. Not to my taste really, but thrift is even more of a compulsion with me than a necessity.

I was always under the impression that Holmes was “well off”.

His life style, the spare “sov” he had for getting info that he needed from the man on the street.

Not to mention the life style of his brother and reference of family “comfort”.

You can’t judge a man’s financial situation due to the tobacco he chooses, no matter what century.

I always thought he smoked the dottle for the increased efffect of vitimin K!

As a man who was constantly needing " brain stimulation", that would do the job first thing in the morning.

Vitamin K you say?  :-P

Didn’t Holmes smoke black shag because he could smoke it in a pipe and roll it into cigarettes, saving him from having to carry around multiple tobaccos

Good points, gentlemen. I stand corrected on Holmes. I get such an education on this forum–thank you all.

oops… vitimin N…

I KNOW!  This forum is, by far, one of THEE MOST INTELLIGENT I have ever been on, or ever come across…  I swear whenever I am here speaking with all of you, I get a little smarter ;)