I tried my machine pipe and found it way too harsh on the first hit each time and had to exhale almost immediately and believe it's because i heated too much, i was using a torch lighter and the machine. Im wondering if i would have more luck with a candle because its stationary ..anyone know what distance roughly i should hold the flame from bottle neck?

Any help would be appreciated.

Have a look at this:
https://www.dmt-nexus.me...aspx?g=posts&t=35040

A normal lighter with the tip of the flame about 1 inch from the gauze should do it...
Jet flames seem to be a bit too hot..

I like a bic. Torch seems to hot.
Also on last hit really hard to find the sweet spot with torch
compared to bic.