Delayed Gratification Technique (DGT)

Delayed Gratification Technique, abbreviated DGT after its initials, is a smoking habit. Its essence is simple: the pipe is packed and lit as usual, and after a few puffs or a quarter bowl it is set aside; the remaining tobacco is finished later the same day or the next, with a fresh match.

The goal isn't to make up for trouble keeping the pipe lit, but to make use of the flavor change that occurs in the bowl during the pause.

Origin of the Abbreviation

The term took hold on alt.smokers.pipes, one of the internet's earliest pipe communities; abbreviation dictionaries also cite this newsgroup as the source. Neither the year the abbreviation first appeared nor a single inventor of the technique has been recorded. Most pipe writers who have put the practice into words describe it starting by accident in their own smoking, noticing the difference when they finished a half-smoked pipe later rather than tossing it. DGT is thus best understood not as a technique with a documented history, but as a widespread practice the community later gave a name to.